Moments before the lights dimmed inside the catacombs of the Palais de Tokyo, Nordstrom designer apparel executive Jennifer Wheeler turned to me and said, "I wonder what he's going to do this time?" with a looking-forward-to-it grin.

Photos: InDigital

Rick Owens has always been known for dark, minimally extravagant and architectural pieces that have the power to transform a wardrobe. What he's becoming more and more known for, are runway shows that include all manner of body politics, performance art and conceptual ideas about modern life. (I would hyperlink something here, but I'm afraid some of it is #NSFW.)

There's nothing in this post that will get you in trouble, but if someone's looking over your shoulder right now, prepare for the fact that things are going to get weird-and then you're going to see a really earthy, beautifully sculptural spring collection.

While it's true that backpacks continue to have a moment or two here at Paris Fashion Week, this was a whole new thing: Women strapped upside down and otherwise to the backs and fronts of other women. Models? I'm not sure if they were models. These were sturdy, brawny but lithe women who must have weight training expertise if not acrobatic or gymnastic experience.

Owen's program notes said he was exploring the idea of women raising and supporting other women, and it would be like him to get this literal in his translation. A friend alerted me, via Instagram, to the similarities in the work of Australian artist Leigh Bowery, and some of the fashion press have made the same reference.

But really, the quieter, more ... wearable looks were worth tuning out that nagging, resounding "W hat? how? why?".

Softly structured and shaped netural tones fell somewhere in the middle of the spectrum that runs from protective and shielding to vulnerable and bare. They were certainly effortless, accessible and very much in tune with current movements. Take, for example, this tone-on-tone bomber jacket and pocketed dress.

It seemed so unlike Owens to set a wave-like orange shock inside a spacesuit dress (as modeled by our friend Emilie Evander), but where the details were 3-D and cape-like, the pieces felt futuristic and narrative-in other words, very Rick Owens. Genre-bending novels by Margaret Atwood and Octavia Butler that get at sisterhood in vaguely sci-fi ways came to mind.

It's hard to say how many people there-or there in spirit as wild rivers of images were sent out to the internet-got the point or felt the feminist gesture but when you leave behind the hype and reflect on the way this team choreographed, orchestrated and directed their presentation you can see that this is absolutely a collection about strength and power.

And the sometimes extreme and unbelievable ways that we as women must harness it.

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-Laura Cassidy