Paris Fashion Week: Rick Owens creates a catwalk stampede

With tall, willowy models off the roster, Rick Owens picked step dancers from across the US to showcase his spring/summer 2014 collection. Watch them in action here.

BY Olivia Lidbury | 27 September 2013

With model diversity on the catwalks a hot topic at present, designer Rick Owens made a loud and proud statement of his own at Paris Fashion Week yesterday.

Related articles Paris Fashion Week spring/summer 2014 blog

Eschewing traditional catwalk models, the American designer picked women from American college step teams: the Zetas, Washington Divas, Soul Steppers and Momentums to cause a stampede at his show - literally.

In perfect synchrony, the dancers came down a huge scaffolds staircase at the Palais Omnisports de Paris Bercy, a sports arena located in the 12th arrondissement of the French capital.

WWD report that the cast, all from African-American fraternities and sororities deliberately made angry faces as they stormed the catwalk in Owens's latest designs.

Watch the video here:

"Step teams are an American phenomenon," Owens said backstage. "My aesthetic has always been about an American's interpretation of European glamour. To put these girls on the Parisian runway was a culmination of everything I do."

The collection complemented, influenced by martial arts, complemented the physiques of these new catwalk stars.