Comparisons to Brutalist Architecture are rife in the discussion of Rick Owens' work, I suppose because he peppers his own work with the terminology (Plinth, Bauhaus, etc.) and he designs his own monolithic homeware. But there is a lack of discourse that focuses on actually breaking down the visual elements of his work and relating that to the architectural inspiration he draws upon.
Here is the Berger, one of the leather jackets that best illustrates the aspirational relationship that Rick Owens' clothes have with architecture. Through it we can see an obsessive investigation with 'scale' and situating the human body within a set of objects that distorts, magnifies, and visually deconstructs the wearer's image in order to mediate the relationship between wearer and built environment in unique ways.
The Berger is crafted based on a traditional double rider shape, with its double breasted lapels, sculpted back, and collar. It utilizes the central lapel and collar as a design elements, magnifying them and converting the front into a monster front panel that stretches across nearly the entire width of the body. The effect is drastic when closed, the front of the piece essentially a single superimposed plane punctuated by one long diagonal zip and nothing else. The way the oversized collar layers over the panel yet the panel cuts so sharply and orthogonally across at the neckline is again indicative of its flatness and its monolithic nature. This central move, of scaling up just one element of an archetypical double rider transforms the entire nature of the jacket--a lapel becomes a plane, the relationship to the body more like an overlaid element of the built environment through its uncompromising shape and size (after all, the jacket and lapel have this form despite your body being there, not because your body is there). The Berger translates the architectural scale onto a wearable garment, creating also with the beautiful hammered lamb texture, the illusion of the built environment bleeding into your image.
With the lapel unclosed and draped back across the chest the Berger encapsulates another architectural character as well. The curvature of the folded lapel sits adjacent to an unexpected/geometric notched placket, these two sides creating a graphic valley in the upper chest as a perfect example of calculated poché (or negative) space. The juxtaposition of the curved and angular is actually highlighted and reiterated again by the way the zipper teeth fall, with one retaining its stark diagonal while the other elegantly arcs to the right. The entire ensemble is reminiscent of a Zaha Hadid plan--clean, bold, considered, playing curves ingeniously off angles in a beautiful way.
The piece is finished with a substantial Raccagni center zipper, zip-closed 'turbo' stash sleeve pockets, geometric patternwork, rayon/cupro lining, and two interior pockets. All cut in the most beautiful glistening hammered lamb, with an appearance like board formed concrete in its pressed striations.
Made in Italy
Impeccable condition 9/10, with no rips, stains, or tears. Leather shows almost no signs of wear aside from the predistressed texture. Comes with tags.
