MODELOS: PHILIPP PLEIN FALL 2014 RTW

PHILIPP PLEIN FW 14.15

"This isn't your ordinary fucking fashion show, I'm telling you right now," Rita Ora declared today at Philipp Plein before launching into her hit "Facemelt." The lyrics of that tune, "I'm the kind of heat that will make the place melt… This the kind of beat that will make ya face melt," would take on greater meaning before the end of the night.

But Ora's pronouncement rang true from the moment the invitation arrived, a huge brass buckle with a cow's skull in the center surrounded by the words "Philipp Plein: Noir Cowboy." Inside the Teatro Alcione, the designer installed a neon-lit gas station and parked an El Camino Classic underneath it. And that's not all: Plein hired none other than Naomi Campbell to open and close his show.

Production levels and expenses of these kinds aren't actually new for Plein, who has booked Grace Jones and Iggy Azalea in seasons past.

What was different this time around was the action on the runway. Working behind the scenes, stylist Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele gave the proceedings a new sense of gloss. (Maybe her participation had something to do with the big-name models who stalked the catwalk as well.)

In keeping with Plein's cowboy theme, there were studded black leather jeans, swaggering dusters with giant fox-fur lapels, and ankle-scraping ruffled skirts.

Plein also had red-and-black tartan (prairie plaid?), which was a little less obvious but still fun. Borrowed-from-his-men's collection distressed and faded denim was the best of all when it came stomping out in flat studded boots.