Rick Owens Models Bare Penises During Runway Show

Normally, I wouldn’t write about penis-baring on the runway. I talk fashion, shopping, statement booties. However, it appears Rick Owens’s Fall 2015 menswear show is causing quite a stir. And it’s not because of his well-structured coats or gasp-inducing knitwear. It’s because several of his brooding models strutted down the runway with their penises in full view (still gasp-inducing, but, ya know, for different reasons).

This wasn’t a wardrobe malfunction either; it was intentional. As in: Owens’s designs included strategically placed cutouts to highlight the groin. It’s not the first time Owens caused a stir on the runway. For his spring 2014 collection, he made a powerful statement about increasing diversity in fashion by replacing models with a fierce step team.

But as is obligatory with anything penis-related (I’m looking at you, Justin Bieber), people had funny things to say.

Here’s what went down:

The folks over at The Muse were concerned for the models:

“I feel absolutely terrible for these models. Maybe this is misplaced sympathy. Maybe they were all really down with this plan. BUT SOMETHING TELLS ME THEY WEREN’T.”

But maybe they shouldn’t have been, because The Guardian writes:

“‘It was not a thing at all,” [a model] told the Guardian. Everyone knew what they would be wearing at early fittings. Having been chosen to model one of the show’s less exposing outfits himself, ‘I just noticed it when I looked at the photo board and saw that there were cocks hanging about. Ha!'”

According to The Cut, apparently it was more of a post-show scandal:

“The penises weren’t the point of the show — it was blink-and-you-miss-it — but many editors were cursing themselves afterward for missing them because they were too busy texting. They missed a fashion first.”

And Gawker won the internet and just wrote this:

“Please stop. Please stop. Please stop. Please stop. Please stop. Please stop. Please stop. Please stop. Please stop. Please stop. Please stop. Please stop. Please stop. Please stop. Please stop. Please stop. Please stop. Please stop. Please stop. Please stop. Please stop. Please stop.”

(Ed. note: This went on for five more lines—had to practice self-restraint.)

But I have to ask: Is it that big of a deal? Kendall Jenner and other models clad in super-thin sweaters revealed nipples at the Marc Jacobs Fall 2014 show. In fact, nips are downright common in the fashion realm these days. Maybe male genitalia is the new nipple. Maybe it’s—gasp—the new cleavage? Or side boob? Weigh in on our poll below.