“I don’t really do delicate that much, and I thought, ‘I’m gonna try that,’” Rick Owens deadpanned before his open-air spring show on Thursday in Paris.

The delicate cycle at Owenscorp means wading fully clothed into the reflecting pool in the parvis behind the Palais de Tokyo, this season in platform boots and the American designer’s subversive way of doing sheer, hems dragging through the ankle-deep water.

“I kept piling them up,” he said of the transparent fabrics. “It’s actually very suppressed, the nudity.”

Naturally, Owens’ take on lingerie dressing — one of the biggest trends this European season — looks like nobody else’s. Think delicate chiffon capes suspended from his signature anvil shoulders — this time cast in metal — or architecturally seamed stocking tops and dresses.

“Delicate lines, sheerness and ribbons. That’s what I did, except it’s all in nylon and leather,” he said with a knowing chuckle.

What’s amazing about Owens is that Old Hollywood glamour always shines through in his shows, no matter how many leather bondage pants he includes, or how spiky his evening gowns in sturdy industrial nylon, this time “haphazardly whipped up,” if you believe the press notes.

They were sensational, as were his dead-simple, low-slung tank gowns, his micro trenchcoats dragging tailcoat trains, his gauzy, full-sleeved bomber jackets and his cropped Dracu-collar blousons.

There’s also a dignity to Owens’ clothes that is uniquely his, heightened by his restrained, sooty colors, and low-key luxurious materials.

Despite the bombastic fog machines, the firehose jets of water, the bone-shuddering soundtrack, and the hulking industrial staircase that ferried models into the water, this ranks as one of the designer’s prettiest shows in years. The finale was breathtaking as everyone returned in a group for one last wade.

So what drove Owens to delicacy?

The designer cited his “Temple of Love” exhibition currently on at the Palais Galliera fashion museum across the street.

“One thing about getting a retrospective, it reminds you of endurance,” he said. “We’re living through kind of grotesque times, and a steely tenacity is not the worst thing.”

Nor is a moment of gorgeous respite.