Photographer Johnny Dufort and stylist Poppy Kain go on an Icelandic odyssey, capturing Rick Owens’ A/W17 collection on street-cast local teenagers
- TextAnother Man
- PhotographyJohnny Dufort
- StylingPoppy Kain
If clothes are a craft, then Rick Owens is a master. Since beginning his label in 1992, the designer has faithfully – and without compromising – crafted men’s and womenswear that defy convention. His brand is gothic and grunge, it’s poetic and post-apocalyptic.
For his A/W17 collection entitled Glitter, presented in January, the designer created something that was – in his words – “voluptuous and flamboyant” and about “strapping yourself in for a bumpy ride”. And for the A/W17 issue of Another Man, photographer Johnny DuFort and stylist Poppy Kain went on an Icelandic odyssey, capturing this collection on street-cast local teenagers: kids that embody the kind of alternative beauty synonymous with Owens’ label.
Here, to coincide with the opening of Owens’ new exhibition in Milan, we present these images, along with some words from designer compiled by AnOther’s Editor Alexander Fury.
“My aesthetic is a very simple recipe – a black and white, Art Deco, Cecil B DeMille lurid Bible Epic. Fashion is communication. Religion is about unity and self-improvement. Both can be about people coming together to commit to a set of values they believe in. I love the solemn drama of the look, the earnest search for spiritual elevation, and the hint of corruption underneath it all. Clothes are about aspiration. If I can make weirdness aspirational, I will have done what I set out to do – to expand a somewhat strict set of accepted aesthetic rules. I believe in pursuing a sense of honour, and appreciate the delusion of presuming to know the definition of honour. I love the fantasy of mysticism, but just can’t really buy it…What I do like is the idea of transcendence – training and working to make yourself better than who you are… And if you add a bit of glamorous mysticism, it makes it more fun.”
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Hair Naoki Komiya at Julian Watson Agency; Casting Angus Munro for AM Casting at Streeters; Model Wim Koch at Tomorrow Is Another Day; Photographic assistant Victor Gutierrez; Styling assistant Carolina Augustin; Production Stefán Sigurjónsson; Special thanks Árni Björn Helgason at Production Service Iceland.
