Dr. Martens and Rick Owens are several collections deep now, and with each drop it becomes clearer that this is not a partnership running on novelty. Since launching his eponymous label in Los Angeles in 1994 and moving to Paris in 2003, Owens has built one of fashion’s most singular and uncompromising bodies of work. A retrospective at Palais Galliera last year, with Owens serving as his own artistic director, put that legacy into context. The Dr. Martens collaboration fits naturally into it: two icons with deep roots, a shared disregard for the middle ground, and a combined aesthetic that has only grown more confident with time.
AW26 brings three silhouettes, all in waxy matte Republic leather, all pure black, all on DM’s Quad sole. The two brands have found a shared language, and this season they are fluent in it.
The pull on Boot is new to the lineup. Owens has taken DM’s rigger silhouette and rebuilt it from the inside: mid-calf height, custom buckle strap closure, pull up tabs, AirWair heel loop, pearl yellow double stitch welt on a platform Quad outsole. Then there is the Megalace Mule, also a first for the partnership. A step-in silhouette on a towering Quad platform sole, finished with Owens’ Megalace system in pearl and contrast silver hardware. It is the most unexpected piece in the lineup, and somehow the most covetable. The Steel Toe Boot comes back from last season, where it sold out, with its extended tongue, steel toe cap, wraparound laces, and ankle zip all intact. Every piece is built to last, finished with the kind of detail that only becomes more apparent the longer you look.
Owens shot the campaign himself, in his studio, with Kembra Pfahler in front of the lens. The two have known each other since the 90s, long before either of them became the figures they are now. Pfahler is an interdisciplinary rock artist whose work has always operated at the edges of what people are comfortable looking at, and who many have also called the godmother of modern day shock art. Putting her in front of a Dr. Martens campaign is not a random decision. It tells you exactly who this collection is for.
Dr. Martens x Rick Owens AW26 dropped 18 September 2026 on the Dr Martens website, Rick Owens Website, Rick Owens stores and select partners. Prices from €330.
