PARIS–It was only a few days ago that I was emailing with a fashion journalist for a major daily newspaper who was in Milano covering the men’s shows. I was commenting on the irony of the reporter’s succinct observations that many of the designers showing their spring collections in Milano substituted inspirations–say a moment of past history or a image of an individual who capture a style of a certain era–for any real design innovations. The response to one of my email was simple and so concise in its observation of the current stalemate one can sense in fashion: “When was the last time you saw an idea?” As a close observer of fashion over the years, I was unable to come up with any substantive answer. Thus the email remained without a reply and the conversation ceased.

As I left the Salle Marcel Cerdan at Bercy following Rick Owens’ menswear show, I instantly thought I might have an answer. Is it possible that I just saw an idea minutes before inside the concrete gymnasium where male models nonchalantly paraded a collection comprised of a variety of khaki cotton linen and striped long dresses, as well as single or double breasted jackets worn with long tee-shirts and long ankle puff skirts slit in the back?

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PARIS–Rick Owens and Kris Van Assche might seem like stylistic opposites, but both their shows forecast a gentle, ergonomic warrior coming from a not-so-distant future. Think bare calves, leather on wool and flowy hair. (Did I just hear Emmanuelle Alt?)

Rick Owens introduced neo-Goth to the fashion planet a few years ago–and since, the whole world caught on: walk on any high street and you’ll find a gazillion brands stocking leather, sheer and black, black, black. So when you are Rick Owens, where do you go next? The designer has chosen a mature, controlled path. His collection shown last night in Paris included kimono folds (a tad like Haider Ackerman’s last woman collection), grey hues, softer wools, slipper-like shoes: more inner peace, less outer chaos.

“I’m not in the same place I was five years ago. I feel that what I’ve shown today is very different from when I started, and will be too in another five years,” Rick Owens told us after the show. “A designer always evolves. There is a sense of continuation but also of constant movement–but at core you just have to stay true to yourself.”

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