Photo: Getty Images

Rick Owens seems to enjoy turning the fashion world on its well-coiffed head. In the past, the designer has enlisted muscular step dancers to stomp down the runway and featured penises (they peeked out from tunics) as the must have accessory for his fall/ winter 2014 mens collection. His latest runway spectacle was called “Cyclops,” but instead of one-eyed creatures clomping down the runway, he sent models out with what can only be classified as human backpacks.

While a trio of gospel singers sang about “Protecting land and how it’s ours to preserve,” models appeared with local gymnasts strapped to them like giant harnessed babies— they hung over the shoulders, upside down, butts and legs sticking out in all different angles. Was this an art project? (The configurations evoked the work of artist Allen Jones or the Chapman brothers.) Or was this some kind of environmental statement? In the press release, Owens spoke of the nurturing ways of women, and the straps as “cradling.”

Models wore models at Rick Owens. Photo: Getty Images

But the designer didn’t offer much else about the meaning or the clothes, for that matter. Owens told The Cut critic Cathy Horyn that he didn’t want to discuss the clothes because, “it seemed trite.“ The audience didn’t want to discuss the clothes either— they were too busy trying to suss out what they just saw. While some likened the show to a Leigh Bowery performance or the sexual positions of Karma Sutra, one seasoned editor had no time for comparisons. "Why can’t he just go see a psychiatrist like everyone else and stop torturing us,” she hissed while shuffling out of the venue. Curiously, actress Jada Pinkett Smith was one of the few who seemed to understand the show. “It’s so glamorous and so beautiful,” a seemingly emotional Smith told Yahoo Style. “This is my first show of his and it just validates why I love him so much. It was such a poignant idea, that this land is ours and this is what we have to do for each other.” And since this is Paris fashion week, she quickly added, “On top of that looking good while doing it.”

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