Rick Owens Drawstring Bias Trousers

Cutting trousers on the bias is much less common than cutting a skirt that way, and considerably harder. A skirt on the diagonal simply swings. A trouser has two legs, a crotch, and a seat, all of which have to hang symmetrically from a cloth that is now stretching in directions the pattern-cutter has to predict. Get it wrong and the legs twist within an hour of wearing.

Get it right, as here, and you have a floor-length trouser that moves like a skirt. The diagonal seams are visible evidence of the method: they run across the leg rather than down it, and they are the lines along which the cloth has been engineered.

Cady is the fabric to know. It is a crepe with a fine, dense, slightly grainy surface and a fluid weight, firmer than a georgette and softer than a gabardine, and it is the standard cloth for high tailoring that needs to move. Cady is traditionally woven in silk. In a viscose and acetate blend it keeps the two things that make cady worth having, the fluid weight and the fine grainy surface, and it holds that crisp texture rather than going limp.

Raw hems at the floor, and a ribbed drawstring at the waist, which is what makes an otherwise demanding garment easy to put on.

Why we selected it

Wide floor-length trousers are having a long moment and most of them are made in cloth that cannot support the length. This pair can, and the bias cut is a genuine piece of construction rather than a description. It is also, quietly, far more comfortable than a formal trouser has any business being.

Materials and construction

Eighty-four percent viscose and sixteen percent acetate, in a medium-weight cady crepe. Made in Italy, in Black. Floor length, loose fit, bias cut, diagonal seams, ribbed drawstring waist, square side pockets, raw hems. From the Spring/Summer 2025 Hollywood collection.

Fit notes

A drawstring waist fits over a range. The bias means the leg follows and releases rather than hanging straight, and the hem will settle over the first wearings as the cloth drops. Floor length is drafted to a height and these are not trousers to shorten without understanding what the bias will do to the new hem.

Styling

With a flat shoe or a low heel; the length is designed to reach the floor and does not want height under it. With a fitted top, because the volume below asks for something close above. This is the trouser to wear when a dress would be too much.

Care

Viscose and acetate both dislike heat and both water-spot, so this is a dry-clean cloth in practice, pressed cool through a cloth if at all. Wet viscose loses strength, so do not wring. The raw hems are the finish. Our care guidance covers the general principles.

Related pieces

We would point to the SS26 A Line Bias Skirt, the Calf Bias Skirt, and the Knee Bias Skirt. Everything we currently hold from Rick Owens is listed together.