Rick Owens Denounces Protesting Model at Men's Show

The designer says he had nothing to do with one model's decision to protest Angela Merkel on the runway.
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The finale of Rick Owens' men's show in Paris this morning. Photo: Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images

The finale of Rick Owens' men's show in Paris this morning. Photo: Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images

Rick Owens' ready-to-wear shows — be they men's or women's — are famed for always pushing boundaries and defying convention. There was the step dance team that replaced models on his spring 2014 catwalk, and the strategically placed crotch holes he sent careening down his fall 2015 runway. At his men's show in Paris Thursday morning, the designer served up yet another unexpected moment — but this time, it wasn't intentional.

Halfway through the presentation, a model whom Women's Wear Daily called "Jera" presented a small banner with "Please Kill Angela Merkel — Not" scrawled in capital letters, referring to the German chancellor. In a statement, included below, the design house confirmed the message was unsanctioned and not to be associated with the Rick Owens brand.

"Rick Owens does not claim responsibility for the act of protest by a model at the Spring Summer 2016 show. This was an independent statement and does not reflect the opinion of the house of Rick Owens."

Owens also told multiple publications that he literally punched Jera as he came off stage. It's probably safe to say this model won't be walking another Rick Owens show anytime soon.

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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?