After last season’s orgy of riotous, escapist prints, the fashion world apparently feels the need to cleanse its palate. That’s the impression left by the Milan and early Paris collections, where formality has been the word du jour. The trend was convincingly confirmed by Rick Owens’s sensational show, a potent treatise on industrial chic that raised the bar high for the remaining men’s collections.

With clarity of vision and devotion to the future, Owens reworked essential elements of a modern wardrobe with intriguing fabrics, new proportions, and an urban palette of gray, black and white. High-waisted pants were paired with high-neck tops, inevitably bringing to mind Raf Simons. Other pants were draped at the front and buttoned at the side like a diaper, a shape synonymous with pampering. And fluffy surfaces could be found on taut double-breasted, one-button blazers.

The stellar outerwear included square, puffy down jackets and spectacular leather jackets with a built-in scarf, while floor-length aprons, or smocks, continued his discourse on androgynous dressing. String-free leather sneakers gave the outfits sportiness without sloppiness.

Owens is often at his best when he merges his couture-like sensibility with his taste for the underground. That formula worked wonders today, making the show an absolute winner.