Rick Owens Mens Fall/Winter 2015 Paris

Much will be made of the “air down there” at the Rick Owens show on Thursday. The always envelope-pushing designer decided what the fashion world needed now was to get a good glimpse of his models low-hanging fruit.

Yep, you read right: Owens designed a number of his outfits to be worn upside down so that sleeves swung out at the sides and collars curved up and around to frame each model’s exposed nether regions. There were other alliterations on the same idea, clothing deconstructed and reworked upside down or back to front, which left other parts of the body visible to the naked eye.

But those more reactionary pieces felt like an unfortunate distraction from the rest of the show. The more traditional-looking outerwear Owens produced was some of his strongest. Cut in A-line silhouettes, the coats played with different fabric treatments of volume and often broke open at the sides to exaggerate the tent-like look of double-breasted coats and leather jackets.

In addition to all the great outerwear, Owens also produced graphic patterned tunics that, along with the final group of three puffa coats, were delineated in a way that gave the pieces a subtle inference of armor.

This show might be remembered for the appearance of the male models nuts and bolts, but the real fixtures and fittings that will support this collection next season were all those great coats.