Rick Owens’ Feathered FW25 Boots Are Made For Flocking
All the usual suspects were present at Rick Owens' Fall/Winter 2025 presentation. There were hooded tunics, wide-shouldered blazers, and cropped leather jackets — all oozing with Owens' dark, eccentric energy. But the real head-turner was Owens’ feathered take on his signature Kiss boots.
The boots, a collaboration with Parisian designer Victor Clavelly, are made of laser-cut leather layered to look like bird feathers. Out-of-the-box boots have been a hallmark of Owens' design expression and personal style for years. On an episode of the “Fashion Neurosis” podcast, Owens described his extremely high-heeled boots as a "protest" against judgment, adding that they provide alternatives to the "standard aesthetics" existing in fashion. And there's certainly nothing standard about these floor-grazing feather boots, which began garnering buzz immediately following their debut.
"Sooo, soooo good!!" one user commented on Clavelly's Instagram post debuting the boots. "What a great collab! We need more like these! Congrats!" shared another.
Though the feathered stompers are a collaboration, they’re pure Owens. After all, he's apt to reveal an over-the-top iteration of his famed Kiss boots, like the Open Splint Kiss Boots and the Rhino Grilled Kiss Boots, season after season.
That said, a quick look at Clavelly's previous work explains why the pair are a match made in heaven.
Many of Clavelly's pieces, like his sculptural Spiral dress and three-dimensional catsuit, seem to be influenced by Owens’ post-apocalyptic vibe. In fact, Clavelly shared on Instagram that Owens inspired him to join the fashion industry in the first place.
The admiration is clearly mutual — Owens praised Clavelly's body-exaggerating design principles in a press release for the FW25 collection.
Owens and Clavelly are the phrase "equally yoked," personified — or in this case, equally yolked, given the birdiness of it all.
