Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Would You Wear Rick Owens’ Bare-It-All Tunic?

In spite of its wealth of shirtless male models, New York Fashion Week: Men’s lacked the revealing spirit that anchored the Fall womenswear shows. That doesn’t mean the fun is over for the guys, however. Rick Owens’ draped tunics for Fall, shown on the runway sans pants, are available to pre-order on the brand’s e-commerce site. 
Whether customers will style their tunics akin to those in the show or go a more reserved route by adding trousers is still yet to be seen. But if the models who bared all on the runway—Jascha, Tomasso, Ryan, and
Ben—have anything to say about it, going nude is worth a try, especially when you’re clad in Rick Owens. Hear their takes below.
How did you feel walking down the runway partially nude?
RYAN: I felt completely fine about the looks; you couldn’t really see much when I was moving, so I wasn’t nervous about how I may have appeared. It was a Rick Owens show, so I knew that I wasn’t going to be a joke…I think I felt confident after the show. Being someone who was somewhat not body confident, it was empowering; however, hearing an audible gasp from the audience was a little enjoyable.
JASCHA: I was fine. I had fun. I took it as a challenge. In my teens, I had a lot of complexes because of being skinny. I even didn’t want to be topless at beaches back then. Today I am totally confident with my body.
TOMASSO: I felt comfortable and confident, which is also due to the great professional attitude backstage. And for the walk itself, I almost forgot about it until I noticed some women pointing their fingers at my crotch…but, yeah, it was just exciting to do something like that on the runway.
Do you think it is different for male models to walk nude on the runway? 
T: I don’t think there is a big difference for the models themselves, but the reactions to the January show showed that the public is completely used to seeing semi-nude women in television, advertising, and so on, but to see a penis was a big deal. So in the end, yes, there may be a difference, but there shouldn’t be one.
Were you shocked at all by the reaction from the press and fashion community? 
T: I wasn’t surprised by the reactions; maybe it is perceived as normal for women to appear semi-nude, but it is good to bring nudity to male domains, too. After all, the fact that we are still talking about it several months later shows how big the gender gap is in this context and how provocative it was to the public to see a little bit of penis here and there. As far as I’m concerned there shouldn’t even be such a big discussion about it, but apparently there is some work to be done on this matter and on how the public reacts to nudity. Finally, we are all created equal and it shouldn’t be shocking to anyone to see what you already know is there by nature.
R: I was honestly shocked by the reaction, I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal at all, but obviously I was wrong. It was quite daunting afterward, with constant questions from friends and family asking if that was me or not when they saw pictures. I think it was a great thing that shocked and shook people up, and that is quite a rarity in 2015, especially with my generation, which seems to have seen and done it all. It gives hope that new things can still happen, and that we are now not so stagnant culturally.
BEN: Well, my circle stopped talking about it a while back, so I’m not confronted with it in my daily life, but [the reactions] were fun.
Would you ever appear nude on the runway again? 
J: I don’t know. I’d check in more before confirming. I was very “lucky” with my outfit. I felt very sorry for the guy who was shown in the press mostly with an unfavorable picture.
T: Sure thing I would. It was a lot of fun to be part of that show, and I only got positive feedback from my family and friends. Also, it was a great self-confidence booster.

No comments: