CORRIERE DELLA SERA: STYLE MAGAZINE — RICK OWENS: THE MIND BEHIND AN AESTHETIC THAT CHALLENGES CONVENTION — JUNE 18, 2025 — By MICHELE CIVARELLA

LET’S READ IT AS IF IT WERE A CONTRADICTION: AN ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT FIGURE LIKE RICK OWENS HAS ACCEPTED THE PROPOSAL FROM THE MUSÉE GALLIERA—THE MOST INSTITUTIONAL FASHION MUSEUM IN PARIS—TO CURATE AN EXHIBITION ABOUT HIMSELF AND HIS 30-YEAR CAREER IN FASHION. BUT PERHAPS IT’S PRECISELY FOR THIS REASON THAT THE FRENCH CAPITAL’S FIRST MAJOR SHOW DEDICATED TO THE CALIFORNIAN DESIGNER CARRIES WITH IT THE EXPLOSIVE ANTICIPATION OF AN UNMISSABLE EVENT. AFTER ALL, THE TITLE ALONE PROMISES AS MUCH: TEMPLE OF LOVE (FROM JUNE 28 TO JANUARY 4, 2026).

RICK OWENS, THEN, TRANSFORMS THE NEO-RENAISSANCE BUILDING OF THE MUSÉE DE LA MODE DE LA VILLE DE PARIS INTO A “TEMPLE OF LOVE”—A SEMANTIC TWIST THAT FEELS PROVOCATIVE, ESPECIALLY IN LIGHT OF THE VIOLENT ERA WE’RE LIVING THROUGH, YET ALSO TIMELY, AS IT AVOIDS SENTIMENTALITY THROUGH CLOTHING. ALONGSIDE 100 LOOKS DISPLAYED IN A THEATRICAL SCENOGRAPHY, THE EXHIBITION INCLUDES PHOTOGRAPHS, VIDEOS, DOCUMENTS, AND A SITE-SPECIFIC INSTALLATION THAT EVEN TRANSFORMS THE BUILDING’S FAÇADE. WHY? “RITUALS OF BEAUTY ARE WHAT I PRESENT AND JUDGMENTAL CONDEMNATION IS WHAT I OPPOSE AND AN OPEN HEART IS WHAT I PROMOTE,” SAYS RICK OWENS IN AN INTERVIEW WITH STYLE MAGAZINE. AND JUST LIKE IN HIS EARLY DAYS—MUCH LIKE THE PERSON WRITING THESE LINES—HE OPENS A LOGICAL-DIALECTICAL PATH THAT STRIPS AWAY EVERY TRACE OF CONTRADICTION. HE CONTINUES: “THE TITLE OF THE EXHIBITION ALSO REFERS TO MY FAVORITE SONG BY THE SISTERS OF MERCY WHICH WAS THE SOUNDTRACK TO MY TEENAGED ANGST, A PERIOD OF CONFUSION, GROWTH AND LEARNING THAT I LOOK BACK ON WITH GREAT AFFECTION.”

SO, WHAT DOES THIS EXHIBITION MEAN TO HIM? “TEMPLE OF LOVE IS A SHOW OF ALL MY SHOWS. IT IS A GRAND SUMMARY OF WHAT I HAVE DONE, AND IT IS PROFOUNDLY SATISFYING TO HAVE IT VALIDATED BY ONE OF THE SUMMITS OF FASHION HISTORY: PARIS.”

RECONCILING OWENS’ RADICAL FASHION WITH THE TRADITIONAL FORMAT OF A MUSEUM EXHIBITION MIGHT SEEM IMPOSSIBLE. HOW DID HE BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN THESE TWO CONTRASTING WORLDS? “I HAVE TREMENDOUS RESPECT FOR TRADITIONAL VALUES THAT ARE BASED ON GRACE, KINDNESS AND COMMUNITY. I ONLY PROTEST FORCES OF BULLYING, OPPRESSIVE MALICE, WHICH I ACCEPT AS AN UNFORTUNATE FACT OF EVERYDAY LIFE. IT IS MY ROLE TO PROVIDE THE OPPOSITE OF THOSE FORCES AS A BALANCING ACT.”

AND WHAT DOES HE HOPE PEOPLE WILL TAKE AWAY FROM THE SHOW? “I PROPOSE AESTHETIC OPTIONS ALTERATIVE TO THOSE WHICH ARE PREDOMINANTLY PROMOTED AS OUR CURRENT CULTURAL STANDARDS. MAYBE SOME WILL SEE THEIR PERSONAL INTERESTS REFLECTED HERE..”

WORK AND FASHION ARE, IN FACT, THE CLEAREST SIGNALS OF THAT ALTERNATIVE AESTHETIC WHICH EMERGES FROM OWENS’ UNIQUE APPROACH. WHAT’S PERHAPS MOST SURPRISING IS HOW SEAMLESSLY THESE SAME ELEMENTS SHAPE HIS PRIVATE LIFE. DESPITE APPEARANCES, HIS LIFE IS GROUNDED IN UNFILTERED SELF-EXPRESSION AND A DEEP COMMITMENT TO WORK. KNOWN AS A PERFECTIONIST AND WORKAHOLIC, OWENS OFTEN SPENDS WEEKS AT A TIME IN HIS FACTORY IN CONCORDIA, A SMALL TOWN IN ITALY’S MODENA REGION, LIVING IN AN APARTMENT JUST ABOVE THE PRODUCTION FLOOR—OVERSEEING EVERY SINGLE ITEM THAT BEARS HIS NAME. FROM THIS UNUSUAL DAILY RHYTHM OF THOUGHTS AND PRACTICES, HIS FASHION IS BORN. AND FROM HIS FASHION, THIS EXHIBITION.

IT’S NOT COMMON FOR THE SUBJECT OF A FASHION EXHIBITION TO ALSO BE ITS CURATOR. BUT THEN AGAIN, WHO ELSE COULD TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE OF TURNING A FASHION ARCHIVE INTO A LIFE STORY? EVEN ASSIGNING AN ADJECTIVE TO OWENS’ WORK IS DIFFICULT—HE ISN’T SIMPLY A TRANSGRESSIVE FIGURE, BUT A CULTURAL LENS. OWENS IS A MISFIT, ONE WHO REACHES THE CORE OF THINGS THROUGH A SHIFTED PERSPECTIVE, REVEALING FACETS OF THE WORLD THAT MOST ONLY GLANCE AT FROM ONE ANGLE.

SINCE HIS PARIS DEBUT IN 2003 (HIS FASHION DEBUT WAS IN LOS ANGELES IN 1992), RICK OWENS HAS NEVER SHOCKED SIMPLY FOR THE SAKE OF IT. INSTEAD, HE HAS PRESENTED NEW WAYS TO INTERPRET FASHION. HIS STORY BEGAN IN 1961 IN PORTERVILLE, CALIFORNIA— “THE CITY OF DISCONTENT”—FROM WHICH HE FLED TO REINVENT HIMSELF IN LOS ANGELES. IT COULD’VE BEEN A TYPICAL STORY OF SOMEONE SEEKING FAME, BUT OWENS HAD A DIFFERENT AMBITION: TO BECOME THE AUTHOR OF HIS OWN LIFE.

IN THE CITY OF POSSIBILITIES—HOLLYWOOD—HE MET MICHÈLE LAMY, A FORMER STUDENT OF PHILOSOPHER GILLES DELEUZE WHO HAD MOVED TO CALIFORNIA FROM FRANCE’S JURA REGION. A NIGHTLIFE ICON WITH A BACKGROUND IN EXPERIMENTAL FILM, SHE HAD ALREADY BEGUN TURNING HERSELF INTO A LIVING PERFORMANCE THROUGH TATTOOS AND CLOTHING—EARLY SIGNS OF THE PERSONAL BODY ART THAT NOW DEFINES HER. TOGETHER, THEY FOUNDED A FASHION LINE NOT JUST AS AN ALTERNATIVE AESTHETIC, BUT AS A RADICAL VISION. IT WASN’T ENOUGH TO SIMPLY BE OUTSIDERS—THEY WANTED TO RESHAPE THE CENTER.

IN 2003, PARIS—AND THE WORLD—TOOK NOTICE WHEN OWENS STAGED A RUNWAY SHOW USING THE HISTORIC FURRIER REVILLON’S PIECES, TURNED INSIDE OUT. THE EFFECT WAS SHOCKING MODELS SPUN IN LAYERS OF FUR THAT BECAME ABSTRACT SCULPTURES, CONCEALING LIMBS AND DISTORTING BODIES. SOME WERE OUTRAGED BY WHAT THEY SAW AS THE DESECRATION OF A FRENCH FASHION INSTITUTION. OTHERS UNDERSTOOD FASHION HISTORY WAS BEING REWRITTEN IN REAL TIME.

THAT SAME YEAR MARKED THE START OF THE OWENS-LAMY ERA IN EUROPE, AND THE BEGINNING OF THEIR ROLE AS GUIDING FIGURES FOR A NEW FASHION COMMUNITY—ONE THAT NO LONGER WANTED TO CONFORM AND FINALLY HAD A PATH TO BREAK FREE.

OWENS’ POLITICAL VOICE HAS ONLY GROWN LOUDER SINCE. THROUGH HIS SHOWS, HE HAS ADDRESSED INTOLERANCE AND PATRIARCHY BY FEATURING AFRICAN AMERICAN STEPPING CREWS, SPEAKING BOLDLY ABOUT SEX AND BODIES, AND CRAFTING GARMENTS THAT ACT AS SCULPTURES. HIS AESTHETIC ISN’T ALWAYS EASY, BUT IT ALWAYS SPARKS QUESTIONS. THIS EXHIBITION STANDS AS PROOF OF EVERY ONE OF THOSE PROVOCATIONS. AND PERHAPS, AS OWENS HOPES, IT WILL ALLOW MORE PEOPLE TO FINALLY SEE THEMSELVES—TRULY—IN THE WORK HE CREATES.