Rick Owens SS25: Monastic Couture

American fashion designer, Rick Owens, commonly known as "Lord of Darkness" for his predominantly dark color palettes and edgy designs, showed his Spring Summer 2025 Mens collection at Paris’ Palais de Tokyo in June. Diverting from his dark palette, Owens brought a grand, soft, and mystical touch to his "white satin army of love.”

This phrase, which Owens used to describe his collection, carries the essence of the unfolding Saturn-Neptune transit–Saturn in the from of conformity (army) and Neptune in the form of divinity (love). Overall, a mystical, and deeply religious display of fashion was embraced in this out of the ordinary collection.

A Saturn-Neptune Déjà Vu

200 models walked elegantly down the runway to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 Allegretto, which was composed between 1811–12 at the tail end of a Saturn-Neptune conjunction. Beethoven premiered this symphony on December 8, 1813, in Vienna as part of a benefit concert for soldiers wounded in the Battle of Hanau. Owens portrays this Saturn-Neptune reverberation through his army of models, while embracing a deep poetry in the architectural form and tone of the garments.

The Threads of Saturn-Neptune

Reality and Dreams:

Owens' collection juxtaposed stark, monastic silhouettes with ethereal, almost otherworldly garments, reflecting Saturn's grounding influence and Neptune's dreamy essence. The heavy, raw-edged materials represented the tangible, while the gilded capes and flowing silk jerseys symbolized the intangible, creating a dialogue between the real and the imagined.

Ritual and Transcendence:

The collection featured gilded capes and hooded jackets that evoked monastic robes and liturgical garments. These pieces combined Saturn’s structural qualities with Neptune’s spiritual connotations, suggesting a synthesis of earthly and divine realms.

Structure and Fluidity:

Saturn's insistence on form and structure met Neptune's love for fluidity in Owens' meticulous craftsmanship and innovative use of materials. The collection’s architectural pieces, with their precise cuts and dramatic proportions, were softened by the flowing, almost liquid drapery, embodying the balance between rigidity and fluidity.

Monastic Fashion

Rick Owens' SS 25 show served as a sartorial reflection of the Saturn-Neptune transit, capturing the essence of this monastic combination. The collection's ceremonial presentation, set against the backdrop of Beethoven's composition, further underscores the interplay between reality and dream, discipline and imagination. In this harmonious fusion, Owens not only redefines fashion but also offers a profound meditation on the spiritual and material dimensions of human experience, mirroring the intricate dance of Saturn and Neptune.