Erykah Badu

Look, I'll be honest. I was never much good at finding meaning from text, much less from fashion, and that's one of the reasons I am not able to critique a runway show from any perspective other than the layperson's ("I feel like I've seen this before," or, "Wow that's insane," or, "Not very cohesive," the latter of which I only learned from Project Runway). So I would have missed Rick Owens' meaning, and just come away from that show thinking, "Holy cats, that was EXPANSIVELY WEIRD." Or expensively weird. BOTH. I appreciate that he was apparently trying to make a statement about women fighting back, but I also feel like women could fight back instuff that isn't made of duct tape and various other things one might find in an emergency vehicle.

Also, though she wore the look in its entirety, she did add the mouthpiece (if that link doesn't take you there directly, it's look 37). Or... is it a gag? I... do not know. It may be a statement on feeling muzzled or objectified, or honestly, maybe she also needed to get in an extra 20 minutes with her orthodontic alignment apparatus.

Erykah Badu

This statement may even be MORE direct than the previous slide.

Erykah Badu

She performed inside as well. I have no idea what the sequence of events here was, but I assume this was last.

Because this looks like she threw off a few of those layers to emerge a triumphant golden warrior. Or something?

Amber Riley

Beautiful girl, you look like a Jurassic throw pillow.

Sza

ALL of these resources could've been redirected to help the top. All of them.

Kalu Uchis

She is a musician whose first mixtape was called "Drunken Babble," and honestly, I might also us that phrase to describe her outfit.

KJ Smith

KJ has been on Queen Sugar and Dynasty, and her IMDb page says she "is considered to be one of the most engaging budding actresses of her time." This may be true, as she certainly has a long list of credits. But all I know is, she is engaging both suspenders, and a shoelace as underwise.

Aaliyah Jay

She's a YouTuber who says of herself, "I'm not into fashion. Fashion is into me." Well, that first statement is for sure true.

Vanessa Fractiion

"Fraction," with either one i or two, aptly describes what percentage of each element here seems like a real garment.

Normani

The time for a Sexy Maleficent costume was a month ago

Tisha Campbell

Tisha hosted this with Tichina Arnold. This seemingly stretchy sparkly jumpsuit is surprisingly well fitted to her, but I wish the v-neck was narrower. The sheer width of it is distracting.

Tichina Arnold

Meanwhile, Tichina just grabbed her kids from soccer practice, dropped them off at a friend's house, and is off to get cocktails at that new lounge at the fancy mall.

Valerie Pettiford

I nearly didn't recognize her. (She played Coumbus Short's aunt in Stomp The Yard, although I know her from her soap days.) I enjoy that she brought some major gala drama with this dress, and some lovely hankies for her armpits in the event that they became emotional or needed to sneeze.

Justine Skye

This suit MIIIGHT be part My Little Pony.

Justine Skye

"So let's get one thing straight: I should NOT have changed, and I see that now."

Ari Lennox

She has a song on the Creed II soundtrack. I don't really like the mesh-bag aspect of this dress, but I also dig the color on her and think she looks pretty good in it. 

Dani Wright

I do not know who she is. But SHE seems pretty comfortable in that knowledge, and that's all that matters. Well, no; it also matters that I am very afraid of what that skirt is doing in her crotch region. 

Faith Evans

This is a better take on Madonna than even Madonna can muster these days.

Bel Biv Devoe

Just TRY to get "Poison" out of your head now.

Al B. Sure

Al was once married to Kim Porter, who also dated Diddy and had his kids, and was tragically recently found dead at just 47. It cannot have been easy for him to muster up the interest in going to this thing.

Kid n Play

Hey gents! It's been a minute.

It Is... Hard to Top Erykah Badu at the Soul Train Awards

How do you even really try?