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Why did the Rick Owens show shake the Palais de Tokyo up?
On the forecourt of the Palais de Tokyo, Rick Owens sends his silhouettes striding through water, somewhere between an apocalyptic and aquatic celebration. As he opens his retrospective exhibition at the Palais Galliera, the American designer presents a Spring/Summer 2026 show that is lyrical, sculptural, and deeply inhabited.
Published on June 27, 2025. Updated on June 30, 2025.
Rick Owens’ show, between aquatic procession and fetishist harnesses
This week, Paris is host to a double event by Rick Owens. Just days before the public opening of his solo exhibition, Temple of Love, at the Palais Galliera, the American designer returned to the forecourt of the Palais de Tokyo on June 26th, to unveil his Spring/Summer 2026 menswear collection.
Holgin to this now-ritual location dear, Rick Owens once again sets up his open-air apocalyptic theatre. But this time, water becomes part of the plan as models walk through a makeshift basin, trousers soaked, boots half-submerged.
The American designer offers up a dark, mystical wardrobe, drawing on ancient and sci-fi references, while remaining deeply rooted in the present.
A dark collection with a mystical aura
Here we find the essence of Rick Owens‘ aesthetic. Leather plays a central, almost sacred role. Sourced from Tuscany or the Hyogo region in Japan, it is worn with zips, studded, laced, or sculpted into fetishist harnesses. Bodies are either exposed or constrained, at the crossroads between armour and nudity. Flare trousers, shoulder-padded jackets with dramatic sleeves, fringed coats that snap in the wind, and futuristic sandals also make appearances.
Yet, beyond the the glitter of the show, the Porterville-native injects some fragile emotions into this Spring/Summer 2026 collection, titled Temple. He unveils a series of worn-out, destroyed garments, including leather jackets created in collaboration with the New York punk band Suicide – a nod to his own underground debut. He also presents cashmere knits inspired by the early 2000s drawn by Terry-Ann Frencken, one of his first showroom models.
With this collection, he alludes to not only beauty, but disappearance too. Water, leather… Everything here seems to symbolise a passage. Rick Owens elevates the fashion show format to a ritual, a dark offering lost between chaos and grace.
Looks from the Rick Owens Spring/Summer 2026 show
