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The army of Rick Owens

Highlanders, blacksmiths, priests and druids, workmen, Norse gods, vagabonds and rebels, savants, pilots and hunters, shaved sasquatches, decommissioned soldiers, cavemen, alien aborigines: I'm sure you can come up with even more characters to fit Rick Owens' Fall 2009 collection.

But no matter how morbid his show may have been, who can resist his leather and beautifully layered jackets?

Shorts or chopped pants over leggings have been seen on many runways this season, but this layering of different materials over pants may just about top all of it.

The detailing of this distressed leather vest demands close attention. Just look at how the strategic stitches and creases create geometric sections. This piece can easily go with a biker in unwashed jeans (though he would be less entertaining or thought-provoking).

When there are no knee-high leather or fur boots, there are these chopped pants. Interesting combination with the hugely-cuffed coat and sheer (one-shoulder?) shirt.

This skinhead and wavy hair combination brings to mind Loki, the Norse god of mischief.

I wonder what the shirt (blouse?) underneath looks like. Is it attached to breeches?

Though this outfit may remind you of a seal, the combination of four (5? 6?) different fabrics actually tones down the use of fur.

What an interesting jacket, with the collar and the diagonal zipper. Now I'm wondering how one should close it.

Again the layering and the cropped pants. There is also something intriguing with the cut of the suit, which looks narrow and almost feminine.

The boots and the belt.

Those two plus the coat (short trench?).

This jacket looks very simple and practical for the season: sufficient license for the headgear.

Fur and animal skin never looked as edgy. This is my personal favorite piece.

I never expected to like Rick Owens, but even if his show and models looked unfriendly and his clothes seemed targetted only to a narrow audience, I am sure some of his pieces can make a killing.

AnOther Man: Untitled editorial in red

The idea of wearing bandages as tops isn't knew. Pieces by Raf Simons in this shoot may have in fact been influenced by old artisanal articles by Martin Margiela. Coincidentally, new clothes by the Belgian designer appear alongside the "new" bandage tops by Simons. I take it as homage.

Rubber bandage (worn as top), Expectations
Untitled editorial from AnOther Man 7, Autumn/Winter 2008
Photography by Mark Segal, Styling by Alister Mackie

I think it's no coincidence that the archive-inspired bandage tops appear in the same editorial as these vintage cropped shirts by Vivienne Westwood, which are very 80s. The reference, of course, is Britain during that era and the Sex Pistol's Johnny Rotten.

Patterned jacket and tartan trousers, Comme des Garçons Homme Plus; lycra t-shirt, vintage Sex by Vivienne Westwood from Rellik; patent leather high tops by Reebok by Juun J

How else can Portobello and Rick Owens mix?

Military cap and reversible tartan jacket, Portobello market; long sleeve fine jersey t-shirts, Rick Owens; torn t-shirt, Wasteland; high waisted trousers, Yohji Yamamoto

Rubber bodysuit, Expectations; padlock pendant necklace and bracelet, TEM; Dead End pendant necklace, Atelier 11; high waisted trousers, Yohji Yamamoto; leather belt, Julius

Even the check shirts are cropped. Red tartans look good with other patterns in black. Again, as in a past editorial I posted, this outfit will not be as effective if the model weren't blond.

Three button fitted jacket and silk pocket square, Yves Saint Laurent; checked shirt, Angels; trousers, Gucci

And as precocious looking.

Oversized mohair tank top and jersey shorts, Rick Owens; rubber collar, Expectations

With that sensual defiance in his eyes.

Leather biker jacket archive, Jitrois; checked shirt, Diesel; torn t-shirt, Wasteland; Dead End pin, Atelier 11; padlock chain and safety pin necklaces, TEM

And yes! Red pants. I don't know if I will dare, but just look at these pairs!

Brick print jacket, Maison Martin Margiels; bandage top and collar, Raf Simons; bullet pendant necklace, TEM; trousers, Prada

Knotted rubber waistcoat, Maison Martin Margiela; trousers, Jil Sander; silver ring, Atelier 11

Nothing really as blatant as that color. You will need all the patterns at hand, and especially the color black, to tame it.

Lycra t-shirt, vintage Sex by Vivienne Westwood from Rellik; trousers, Filippa K; patterened silk scarves, Gucci; bandanas, Rokit

Tartan tuxedo jacket, Vivienne Westwood Man; tartan shirt, Wasteland; padlock chain, TEM; marbled trousers, Jil Sander

And this, this is just bloody fabulous.

Bandage top and saftey pin brooch, Raf Simons

Rick Owens wears his clothes best

'A factory in the snow'
From Arena Homme Plus 31 Summer/Autumn 2009
Excerpts from the interview by Jo-Ann Furniss, Photography by Nick Knight, Fashion by Panos Yiapanis

Since then we have met many times...in London after he attended sittings for the waxwork he was getting made of himself - by the artisans behind Madame Tussauds - for no reason than 'well, just because I felt like it'. That statue ended up being the centerpiece of his Pitti menswear exhibition in Florence a few years ago: it pissed a great stream of water onto a bare concrete floor from high up in the rafters of a gigantic shed.

Despite training as a painter, Owens entered the fashion industry by specialising in pattern-cutting (although in typical style, much of his craft was leanred in the knock-off garment district of LA)...He also sites historical influences such as Vionnet, Fotuny and Grès, famed for their scultpural approach to design for the body...

...All of these elements were on display in his first fully-fledged menswear show in Paris this January for autumn/winter 09. The soundtrack was from Strauss's 'Salome', one of Owens's favourite operas. 'It is from the final scene where she is singing to the severed head and saying, "You wouldn't kiss me before but you will now!" And she kisses the head,' he says with undisguised glee. 'It gives me chills just thinking about it. That music is so rapturous but it is also just hysterical. There is that tremor through the whole thing...'

Rick Owens has always worn his own menswear, yet here now emerged his own army of idealised/deranged boys. Shrouded in cashmere, tailored in mohair, protected by fur and leather - mainly fisher, mink, alligator, kangaroo and horsehide - a cross between high priests and slaughtermen, strangely classical yet almost post-apocalyptic.

'When I was looking at this show I was thinking about what I felt when I started in fashion', explains the designer. 'At first my whole idea was that I was very anti-show. I resented that radical and extreme silhouettes and ideas were only reserved for the runway and that this was so un-punk rock, fancy and bourgeois. So I wanted to corrupt from within by making silhouettes that were extreme and more challenging - but I would do everything in washed grey and it would be soft so it could slip into daytime life. I insisted it was daywear and people wore it in the day, forcing them to wear glamorous looks in a grungy way. It felt honest to bring the theatrical fashion moment into everyday life. That's why I found it hard with shows at first; I never liked the idea of making things through shows into status symbols to impress. I have kind of balanced it all out now and worked it out, but I'm still holding on to that initial idea - and with this men's show I really did have to consider it all again.'

'I also wanted the notion of kids who wanted to be invited to the party but never were, so they made their own party. I wanted to use the idea of making the boys over to be my dream boys: Joe Dallesandros, Klaus Nomis...Well, actually that dream boy is a cross between Klaus Nomi and Divine, shaving their eyebrows and hairline the way she did. It is that self-invention thing: I created myself, everything is fake and I insisted so hard it became me. It was the same with the men's show - I created my creatures. I loved it!'

'I was looking at some blogs this morning about the show; they're always kind of honest...well, more absolutely vicious, and I do quite enjoy that. So I was looking at Fashion Spot or Zeitgeist or something and it said, "Rick looks like a creepy guy who probably belongs to NAMBLA and lurks in the corners of gay bars looking for chickens to plough through..." Something along those lines. It was really good! I kept it - I might well print it on a T-shirt. I thought, oh my God, they're so spot on. That's how my life could have been.' And he laughs. Never take Rick Owens too seriously, but underestimate him at your peril.

The layers and lapels of Helmut Lang

Tim Blanks is right, the Fall 2009 collection of Helmut Lang does have certain similarities with the new pieces of Rick Owens. In particular, jacket lapels and layering that Michael Colovos (who has designed for the label with Nicole Colovos since 2006) calls seasonless dressing, since the layers can be peeled off for the warmer months.

The two brands seem like binary opposites, with the contrast not only in color, but also in fabric. It helps that the set of one show is in white and gray, and the other in white, gray, and black.

But in spite of the differences, the models from the two shows, when placed in pairs, look like estranged brothers. Not different from those two in the story where one joins the military and the other becomes a rebel.

They are from the same stock.

The crossing of their paths is inevitable.

But while Rick Owens is in the ascendant, the label Helmut Lang has yet to return to its former position in fashion ever since its founding designer left the industry. So no clash is imminent.

Black by Joona W.

For Finnish drummer Joona, the best things in life are in black, white, and gray.

Leather jacket, €255, Horace; striped shirt, €129, Hugo Boss; jeans, $325, Dior Homme; 4. leather gloves, Adam