Vulgar vs tasteful

At the recently concluded Paris fashion week, designer Rick Owens caused a mayhem of sorts by sending out hippie hunks in outfits cut in a way to reveail their penises. The audience was quick to react with sniggering and social media was abuzz with feeds calling him - 'DickOwens'.
Fashion critic Asmita Aggarwal says, "The lines here became parallel, with Owens going a bit too far with the concept of creative freedom. Fashion is an idea, thought, expression, and a show must epitomise this doctrine, displaying intimate body parts of men was downright crude, and only shocked, rather than eliciting a cerebral response. It was not Oh Wow, it was Oh How? It was sensationalism, edgy fashion, maybe not!"
We spoke to our style arbiters to understand the designers' vision and the way in which it was received by the audience.

Che Kurrien, Editor, GQ India
Rick was grabbing eyeballs. He knows that fashion press has to be excited about something. The show was provocative. It was a larger vision communicated to a larger audience. The usage of unusual male models was interesting. In a creative space, you tend to have a leeway. It's not a real world but a world which the designer creates. I feel that to have constraints on that world is not right. You have to defend purity of that space.

Wendell Rodricks
Seeing women's or men's nipples under sheer clothes is fine, but the fig leaf was created for a reason, I think Rick Owens needs to do a rethink about whether people want to wear clothes that expose a penis or vagina. I think not. Such cheap thrills are best left to pornography.

Dhruv Kapur, designer
Saying it was a publicity stunt is a cheap reaction. It was an artistic expression and a political statement. So many social media posts doing the rounds made it into an issue. Don't people look at themselves everyday? As an artist it becomes your prerogative to cross the boundary. I'm on team Dick.

Nachiket Barve, designer
RO has always been known for really good craft - raw leather and frayed edges but the question is - how much is too much? It looked like a shock tactic. When everything is on display, what's left to see unless you want to be arrested for immodesty. I think it was a less evolved way of putting things out there.

Pranav Mishra, designer
Fashion allows freedom of expression and it was an expression of the designer's views. I think it was a bold move on his part but there was a total disconnect in the way he wanted it to be received by the audience and the manner it was perceived given all the posts online. In fact, it was a disconnect for me as well. But if he made such a bold move, I'm sure he had some sort of a story to tell.

Asmita Aggarwal, Fashion critic
There is a fine line that divides erotica from vulgarity. Anju Modi showed she had the moves when she dressed Bollywood dreamboat Priyanka Chopra in a dhoti skirt and minuscule choli, in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's ode to unrequited love, Ram Leela, grooving to Ram Chahe Leela Chahe, which was emblematic of oomph, and heightened sensuality, keeping room for mystery and seduction, but Rick Owens, somehow missed the boat.