MARIE CLAIRE FRANCE — RICK OWENS, PRINCE OF ANTI—FASHION — AUGUST 2025 — By CHARLOTTE BRUNEL

AT 63, THE CALIFORNIAN DESIGNER CONTINUES TO CHALLENGE CONVENTIONS AND DEFY THE RULES OF CONTEMPORARY FASHION. AN EXHIBITION AT PARIS’S PALAIS GALLIERA PAYS TRIBUTE TO THIS ICONIC, UNAPOLOGETIC FIGURE, MORE RELEVANT THAN EVER. IT’S A STRIKING PARADOX: RICK OWENS, FASHION’S PRINCE OF DARKNESS, BRIGHTENS THE DIMLY LIT HALLS OF THE PALAIS GALLIERA WITH SURPRISING CLARITY. TITLED TEMPLE OF LOVE, THE MUSEUM’S FIRST PARIS RETROSPECTIVE OF THE DESIGNER’S WORK IS TRULY ENLIGHTENING - NOT JUST IN TERMS OF LIGHTING.

FEW DESIGNERS RIVAL OWENS IN RADICAL VISION OR UNWAVERING PURPOSE. HIS MONOCHROME SILHOUETTES, OFTEN MONUMENTAL AND SCULPTURAL, EVOKE GOTHIC FIGURES FROM ALTERNATE WORLDS. THE EXHIBITION FOLLOWS THIS UNIQUE AESTHETIC THROUGH REFERENCES TO GLAM ROCK, BODY ART, SYMBOLISM, FUTURISM, AND EVEN BRUTALIST SCULPTURE, REFLECTED IN OUTDOOR INSTALLATIONS INSPIRED BY HIS FURNITURE LINE. AN ALL-ENCOMPASSING PORTRAIT OF HIS RADICAL DESIGN LANGUAGE.

“I FEEL INCREDIBLY FORTUNATE TO BE TOLERATED BY THE PARISIAN FASHION WORLD, AND TO HAVE A PLACE WITHIN IT,” RICK OWENS REFLECTS. “IT’S A FORM OF RECOGNITION I DEEPLY VALUE.” SINCE ARRIVING IN PARIS IN 2003, THE AZTEC PRINCE WITH LONG HAIR AND A TRANSGRESSIVE EYE HAS WON OVER EVEN THE BOURGEOIS 7TH ARRONDISSEMENT. NOW 63, THE PATRIARCH OF THE GROTESQUE AND THE SUBLIME (REMEMBER THE INFAMOUS EXPOSED PENISES OF HIS 2015 RUNWAY) HAS BECOME A CULT FIGURE. HE’S A COUTURIER REVERED BOTH BY PEERS AND A FIERCELY DEDICATED AUDIENCE, DRAWN TO HIS UNCOMPROMISING INTEGRITY AND SINGULAR AESTHETIC LANGUAGE.

“RICK OWENS IS ONE OF THE FEW TO MAKE INDIVIDUALITY A SUCCESSFUL SIGNATURE,” SAYS ALEXANDRE SAMSON, CURATOR OF THE EXHIBITION. “HIS AESTHETIC SPARKS BOTH REVERENCE AND RESISTANCE - IT’S NOT FOR EVERYONE. BUT IN AN INDUSTRY DOMINATED BY MEGA-GROUPS AND MASS LUXURY, RICK IS PROOF THAT THERE’S POWER IN DIVERGENCE.”

TODAY’S RISING DESIGNERS - LIKE DURAN LANTINK, JEAN PAUL GAULTIER’S NEW CREATIVE DIRECTOR, AND TURKISH-BRITISH TALENT DILARA FINDIKOGLU - CITE HIS CREATIVE AND FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE AS A BEACON. WITHIN HIS CONSTELLATION OF HIGH-PROFILE ADMIRERS ARE MARINA ABRAMOVIĆ, A$AP ROCKY, CHAPPELL ROAN, AND MORE. THE BRAND’S STREETWEAR-INFLUENCED LINE AND COLLABORATIONS WITH MONCLER AND BIRKENSTOCK HAVE BROADENED ITS REACH BUT NEVER DILUTED ITS IDENTITY. FOR COLLECTORS LIKE FIONA LUO AND MICHAEL SMITH IN NEW YORK, WHO NOW SHARE A 200-PIECE WARDROBE, OWENS’S WORK INSPIRES BOTH DEVOTION AND PERSONAL CONNECTION. “WHAT I ADMIRE MOST,” SAYS FIONA IN A VIDEO INTERVIEW, “IS RICK’S ABILITY TO EXPRESS GENDER FLUIDITY, NOT AS A SLOGAN, BUT WITH EFFORTLESS EASE.”

SINCE HIS EARLY DAYS IN THE LOS ANGELES UNDERGROUND SCENE, RICK OWENS HAS MAINTAINED AN UNWAVERING COMMITMENT TO HIS AESTHETIC, AND HIS PHILOSOPHY OF LIVING. BORN IN 1961 IN PORTERVILLE, CALIFORNIA, OWENS WAS RAISED IN A STRICT, RELIGIOUS HOUSEHOLD. HIS MEXICAN-BORN MOTHER, A DEVOUT CATHOLIC, LEFT A DEEP IMPRINT. HE CREDITS THE ELEGANT CASSOCKS OF HIS PRIVATE HIGH SCHOOL PRIESTS AS EARLY INSPIRATION FOR HIS AUSTERE, “BIBLICAL” AESTHETIC. HIS FATHER, A SOCIAL WORKER AND AESTHETE, INTRODUCED HIM TO OPERA, JAPANESE WOODBLOCK PRINTS, AND THE DECADENT LITERATURE OF HUYSMANS. “RESPONSIBILITY MATTERED A LOT TO MY PARENTS,” OWENS REFLECTS. “I REJECTED IT AT FIRST, ONLY TO FULLY EMBRACE IT LATER. FULFILLING YOUR POTENTIAL - THAT’S THE ULTIMATE MEANING OF LIFE.” IN THE EARLY '80S, HE STUDIED FASHION AT OTIS COLLEGE IN LOS ANGELES WHILE GRAVITATING TOWARD THE ALTERNATIVE SCENE ON HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD.

THERE, HE MEETS THE FRENCH ARTIST AND MODEL MICHÈLE LAMY. WITH HER EXTRAVAGANT STYLE, SHE WAS DEVELOPING HER OWN LABEL AT THE TIME. LAMY HIRED OWENS TO DESIGN HER MEN’S LINE. FROM THE START, THEIR CONNECTION WAS UNDENIABLE. WHEN OWENS LAUNCHED HIS OWN BRAND IN 1994, LAMY BECAME HIS PARTNER IN BUSINESS AND IN LIFE—MUSE, COLLABORATOR, AND GUARDIAN ANGEL.

IN 2003, A CREATIVE OPPORTUNITY WITH THE FRENCH FUR COMPANY REVILLON BROUGHT THE COUPLE TO PARIS, WHERE THEY MOVED INTO A STARK MODERNIST SPACE ON PLACE DU PALAIS-BOURBON THAT SERVED AS BOTH APARTMENT AND ATELIER. IT DIDN’T TAKE LONG FOR THE PARISIAN FASHION WORLD TO FALL UNDER THE SPELL OF OWENS’S ROMANTIC NIHILISM. HIS RAW ELEGANCE - TURNING DISTRESSED LEATHER, SURPLUS TENTS, AND WASHED JERSEY INTO SLINKY DRESSES AND SEVERE COATS - WAS UNLIKE ANYTHING ELSE. HIS MUTED COLOR PALETTE, INCLUDING HIS NOW FAMOUS SHADE OF GREY CALLED “DUST”, AND HIS DESTRUCTIVE TAKE ON HOLLYWOOD GLAMOUR QUICKLY BECAME SIGNATURE.

THOUGH THE CLASSIC SILHOUETTE OF THE 30S - TIGHT BUST, EXAGGERATED SLEEVES, MERMAID SKIRT - REMAINS, OWENS CONSTANTLY REINVENTS THE BODY’S PROPORTIONS: DRACULA COLLARS, PAGODA SHOULDERS, DONUT-LIKE VOLUMES. “HIS WORK DELVES INTO THE RADICAL POSSIBILITIES OF THE BODY AND THE STRUCTURES THAT FRAME IT,” SAYS SAMSON. “INSPIRED BY CHARLES JAMES, ONE OF HIS KEY INFLUENCES, RICK IS ONE OF THE FEW DESIGNERS WHO CAN TRULY CONSTRUCT A GARMENT FROM SCRATCH.”

IN RECENT YEARS, OWENS’S SILHOUETTES HAVE TAKEN ON MONUMENTAL SCALE, IMBUING THE WOMEN WHO WEAR THEM WITH STRENGTH, STATURE, AND A SENSE OF ARMOR. SOMETIMES, PERHAPS, TOO MUCH SO. “HUN (HIS NICKNAME FOR LAMY) ONCE TOLD HIM: ‘YOU MAKE WOMEN SO MAJESTIC THEY SEEM UN-FUCKABLE,’” HE LAUGHS. “IT’S ALWAYS IN THE BACK OF MY MIND NOW.”

IT MUST BE SAID THAT MICHÈLE LAMY'S INFLUENCE ON HIM IS ABSOLUTE. WITH HER HENNA-PAINTED FACE, DIAMOND-STUDDED TEETH, AND OWENS-ONLY WARDROBE (WITH THE OCCASIONAL COMME DES GARÇONS), SHE EMBODIES THE BRAND’S INSTINCTUAL POWER. “SHE’S IMPULSIVE; HE’S METHODICAL,” SAYS SAMSON.

THOUGH OWENS LEADS AN ASCETIC LIFE OF WORK AND RIGOROUS DAILY WORKOUTS, SPLITTING HIS TIME BETWEEN PARIS, LA, AND VENICE (HE RECENTLY BOUGHT AN APARTMENT OVERLOOKING LIDO BEACH), HE REMAINS DEEPLY ATTUNED TO CULTURAL CURRENTS. HIS SHOWS, OFTEN THEATRICAL AND EMOTIONALLY CHARGED, EVOKE HOLLYWOOD EPICS, WITH CECIL B. DEMILLE’S SILENT FILMS AS MAJOR INFLUENCES. THEY ALSO DOUBLE AS POLITICAL STATEMENTS. TAKE THE SPRING/SUMMER 2014 SHOW: OWENS ENLISTED STEPPING DANCERS, A STRIKING FORM OF CHOREOGRAPHY DEVELOPED BY AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS AS A CULTURAL RITE TIED TO UNIVERSITY LIFE AND ACCESS. IN 2015, MODELS CARRIED EACH OTHER PIGGYBACK STYLE, A VISUAL METAPHOR FOR THE MIGRANT CRISIS. LAST YEAR, A QUIET, INTIMATE SHOW WAS SHAPED BY THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT.

CASTING REMAINS INTEGRAL TO HIS MESSAGE. OWENS HAS FEATURED TRANS ICONS ALLANAH STARR AND DJ HANNAH ROSE DALTON OF FECAL MATTER, KNOWN FOR HER SHAVED HEAD AND WHITE-PAINTED FACE. IN AN ERA MARKED BY THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION AND A BROADER RESURGENCE OF CONSERVATISM, RICK OWENS HAS EMBRACED A MISSION MORE DEFINED THAN EVER: TO CHAMPION TOLERANCE—TOWARD OTHERS AND TOWARD ONESELF. “I HAVE DONE MY BEST TO OFFER AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE STANDARD CULTURAL AESTHETICS WITHIN WHICH NOT ALL OF US FEEL REFLECTED,” HE EXPLAINS. “I DON’T REJECT OF CONDEMN ANYTHING, I JUST PROPOSE ANOTHER OPTION. MY ROLE IS TO OFFSET THEM WITH A JOYFUL PERVERSITY.”

HIS TEMPLE OF LOVE AT THE PALAIS GALLIERA STANDS AS A TESTAMENT: A DARKLY RADIANT UTOPIA IN FULL RICK REGISTER—PROVOCATIVE, GENEROUS, AND WHOLLY UNEXPECTED. IT IS A WORLD APART, WAITING TO BE EXPERIENCED THIS SUMMER