Tailored overcoats layered over slashed tunics, bare chests and bondage told the story of Rick Owens' FW18 show SISYPHUS.

The mix of tailoring, cut-out silhouettes and military details were Inspired by the arrogant king sentenced by Zeus to roll a boulder up a hill, only for it to roll back to the bottom and the cycle to repeat for the rest of time. 



The show was one part brutalism, one part fashion and one part philosophy. Frayed silhouettes and otherworldly models walked to a soundtrack of unrelenting Techno - a nod to the monotony of eternal boulder-rolling in typical Owens fashion. 

After ending his long-running collaboration with adidas last year, SISYPHUS debuted a new footwear collection, a mix of retro-inspired runners and military boots with exaggerated translucent outsoles.

Embellished, flowing coats countered midriff baring knitwear, playing out both sides of the fallen king – the ruler who thought himself above the Gods, and the man resigned to torturous labour.



The mythology had Rick Owens musing over the nature of unhealthy cycles:

“Does this mean unhealthy cycles and base urges are an integral part of the human condition?”

Who's to say - but Rick Owens knows as well as anyone, fashion is a Sisyphean task.