With neck pillows the size of life rafts and stiff felt coats, Rick Owens builds a protective shell for the modern introvert.
Summary
- The Strategy: Rick Owens builds a personal bunker for men, utilizing towering neck collars to deflect gaze and hide the wearer.
- The Materials: The collection alternates between rigid defense and soft cushioning, mixing stiff felted wool coats that stand away from the body with inflatable nylon “neck pillows” and oversized duvet coats.
- Privacy as Luxury: Beneath the shielding lies covetable outerwear, heavy leather trenches and boxy suede field jackets, suggesting that the ultimate luxury in 2026 is logging off.
If you have ever fantasized about walking through a crowded room without a single soul being able to make eye contact with you, Rick Owens has heard your prayer. For his fall 2026 menswear collection, the designer stripped away the usual rules of engagement and replaced them with a masterclass in anti-social architecture. He sent out heavily fortified pieces designed to say “Incognito mode.”
Some models stomped through the fog completely obliterated by floor-length cascades of synthetic hair, resembling sentient car wash brushes that had gained consciousness and a bad attitude. Through face-obscuring hair curtains and towering neck collars that mimic architectural insulation, the designer proposes a wardrobe designed to deflect and hide.
The standout silhouette, and the one destined to dominate your feed, features a gigantic, inflatable collar that swallowed the head whole. It looked like an airplane neck pillow exposed to gamma radiation. It’s “do not disturb” mode stitched into a garment.
Owens swapped the soft duvet vibes for stiff, felted wools that looked hard enough to bruise a knuckle. Coats in dirty oatmeal and charcoal stood rigid against the body while their collars rose up like Dracula’s cape to shield the neck from drafts.
Strip away the hair curtains and the blow-up rafts, and you find a wardrobe of impeccably cut civilian disguises. Boxy jackets in matte black and sandy suede offer a sharp, utilitarian uniform for those days when you actually have to leave the house. Rick Owens has built a fortress, and frankly, we all want to move in.
