AUGUST 22 2022

FINANCIAL TIMES WEEKEND: THE ART OF FASHION — FOR RICK OWENS, ‘COMMERCIAL’ ISN’T A DIRTY WORD — AUGUST 22, 2022 — BY ALEXANDER FURY

FROM HIS HOME IN VENICE, THE DESIGNER TELLS ALEXANDER FURY THAT HIS WORK IS JUST AS MUCH ABOUT SEEKING BEAUTY AS REACTING TO HIS STRICT UPBRINGING

FASHION DESIGNERS ARE OFTEN ACCUSED OF LIVING IN IVORY TOWERS, BUT FEW — IF ANY — ADMIT TO IT. YET THAT IS EXACTLY HOW RICK OWENS DESCRIBES HIS APARTMENT ON THE VENICE LIDO, PERCHED ATOP A BRUTALIST 1950S HOUSING BLOCK INCONGRUOUSLY IN SUBURBIA, ABOUT FIVE MINUTES WALK FROM THE SCHEHERAZADE FANTASIA OF THE HOTEL EXCELSIOR. “YOU CAN SEE HOW I LIVE,” OWENS SAYS. AND HOW HE LIVES IS ENTOMBED IN WHITE SARDINIAN STONE AND MIRROR, WITH A GYM IN PLACE OF A KITCHEN AND FELT ARMY BLANKETS TACKED TO THE FLOOR IN LIEU OF RUGS. THROUGH THE FLOOR-TO-CEILING WINDOWS THERE IS A PANORAMA OF THE LAGUNA DI VENEZIA. OWENS IS A DESIGNER WHOSE CLOTHES HAVE RESHAPED HOW PEOPLE DRESS AT JUST ABOUT EVERY LEVEL. HIS COMPANY IS PRIVATELY HELD — “I COULD JUST BURN THE WHOLE FUCKING PLACE DOWN,” HE ONCE TOLD ME, GLEEFULLY — AND HAS NOT DISCLOSED REVENUES SINCE 2017, WHEN THEY HOVERED AT ROUGHLY $140MN. THAT IS A FRACTION OF THE SALES BROUGHT IN BY CONGLOMERATE-BACKED RIVALS, YET HIS CREATIVE IMPACT IS SEISMIC, LARGER THAN THAT OF MANY FASHION BEHEMOTHS. OWENS’ DRIPPY SILHOUETTES AND SIGNATURE FABRICS — BOILED OR RIB-KNIT CASHMERES, WASHED LEATHERS — ARE OMNIPRESENT IN THE WAY THAT GABRIELLE CHANEL’S TWEED SUITS WERE IN THE 1960S. RICK RIP-OFFS PROLIFERATE ON THE HIGH STREET AND IN HIGH FASHION AND HAVE DONE FOR ABOUT 20 YEARS — ABOUT A DECADE AFTER OWENS STARTED HIS BUSINESS IN 1994. HE WAS WORKING OUT OF LOS ANGELES BACK THEN — IT WAS THERE THAT HE MET HIS WIFE, MICHELE LAMY, AN EXTRAORDINARY-LOOKING FRENCH WOMAN WHOM HE CALLS HUN (AS IN ATTILA) AND WHO NOW WORKS ACROSS VARIOUS ASPECTS OF HIS BUSINESS, INCLUDING HIS FURNITURE LINE, AND HER OWN JEWELLERY LINE, HUNROD. HIS CLOTHES RETAIN A SENSE OF THE CITY’S CASUALNESS AT THEIR CORE.

OWENS WAS BORN IN 1961 IN PORTERVILLE, CALIFORNIA — A SMALL CITY ABOUT 160 MILES NORTH OF LOS ANGELES. HIS AMERICAN ACCENT IS STRONG, IDEOLOGICALLY AND LITERALLY, DESPITE HAVING LIVED AND WORKED IN EUROPE SINCE 2003. IT’S THERE IN HIS DAILY WARDROBE — USUALLY BAGGY BLACK SHORTS AND VEST, CALIFORNIA STONER WEAR MEETS HAUTE COUTURE. YET IT’S ALSO EVIDENT WHEN HE’S DESIGNING A SLITHERY EVENING DRESS, OR FEATHERED TULLE CAPE, OR A VEST OF IRIDESCENT FISH-SKIN. THEY’RE ALWAYS ROOTED IN REALITY. WHICH IS WHY THE IVORY TOWER IS IRONIC. ALTHOUGH OWENS’ WORK AND WORLD CAN SOMETIMES SEEM STRANGE AND DISTANT, IT IS ACTUALLY EMBEDDED IN A SENSE OF THE HERE AND NOW, WITNESSING HIS TIME. HIS AUTUMN/WINTER 2022 SHOW, STAGED IN MARCH IN PARIS, IS A CASE IN POINT: OWENS CLOSED IT WITH A PAIR OF DRESSES IN THE COLOURS OF THE UKRAINIAN FLAG HAVING, AT THE LAST MINUTE, SWAPPED A CACOPHONOUS, EVEN ASSAULTIVE SOUNDSCAPE — “IT SOUNDS A LITTLE BIT LIKE MACHINE GUN FIRE” — FOR THE PLAINTIVE TONES OF MAHLER’S FIFTH SYMPHONY. WHICH, YES, WAS USED IN DEATH IN VENICE. THESE SOUND LIKE SMALL GESTURES, BUT IN AN INDUSTRY THAT WAS BY AND LARGE IGNORING THE UNFOLDING CONFLICT, THEY FELT HUMANE, CARING.

OWENS ALSO SMOTHERED THAT SHOW IN FOG — MODELS CARRIED MOBILE FOG MACHINES THAT BELCHED OUT SMOKE AT THE AUDIENCE, PHOTOGRAPHERS HOWLING AS THE MIST OBLITERATED ENTIRE OUTFITS. “IT WAS INTRUSIVE,” OWENS ALLOWS. “LIKE THAT MOMENT OF THINKING ‘A WAR, NOW, IN THIS DAY AND AGE, AFTER EVERYTHING WE’VE LEARNED? HOW IS THAT PART OF OUR WORLD?’ THAT’S KIND OF HOW I FELT THE FOG WAS TOO. AND IT’S PERVASIVE.” THERE IS UNDENIABLY A DARKNESS TO RICK OWENS. HIS FATHER, A SOCIAL SERVICES WORKER, WAS A STRICT DISCIPLINARIAN AND CONSERVATIVE. HE REFUSED TO ALLOW A TELEVISION IN THE HOUSE UNTIL OWENS WAS 16 AND MADE HIS SON READ THE CLASSICS AND LISTEN TO CLASSICAL MUSIC — REFERENCES TO HUYSMANS, WAGNER AND PROUST PROLIFERATE IN HIS DESIGNS. SO, HOWEVER, DO NODS TO IGGY POP AND THE RAMONES. HIS DAD WASN’T ENTIRELY SUCCESSFUL AT KEEPING THE EVILS OF THE MODERN WORLD AWAY FROM HIS SON. “I ALWAYS THOUGHT OF MY FATHER AS MISANTHROPIC, AND I’VE ALWAYS FELT LIKE HE INFECTED ME WITH THAT,” OWENS SAYS TODAY. “AND SO I END UP OVERCORRECTING AND THEN NOT FORMING ANY OPINION AT ALL, BECAUSE EVERYTHING’S FINE. EVERYBODY BEHAVES THEIR OWN WAY, AND YOU HAVE TO RESPECT THAT. ANYWAY, WHEN I’M MAKING CLOTHES, I THINK WHAT I’M DOING HAS ALWAYS BEEN AN EXPRESSION OF THAT, OF MY EXPERIENCE BEING JUDGED AND MOCKED, AND THAT SENSE OF DISGUST THAT I EXPERIENCED IN A CONSERVATIVE TOWN.” THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGION ALSO MADE ITS MARK: OWENS WENT TO CATHOLIC SCHOOL, WHICH EXPLAINS HIS OBSESSION WITH TRAILING ROBES, WITH CINCTURES AND STOLES AND GRAND GESTURES IN CLOTH. HE EVEN ALLIED HIS FOG MACHINES TO BRUTALIST THURIBLES. OWENS HAS RENOUNCED RELIGION FOR HIMSELF, ALBEIT QUIETLY, WITHOUT VIOLENT REJECTION. “I APPRECIATE IT FOR WHAT IT IS,” HE SAYS. “I SEE IT AS A SYSTEM THAT PEOPLE DEVELOPED TO HELP EACH OTHER OUT, WHICH I THINK IS A LOVELY THING.”

NEVERTHELESS, RECENTLY OWENS HAS BEEN TOYING WITH THE PENTAGRAM, THE FIVE-POINTED STAR OFTEN SEEN AS A SYMBOL OF THE OCCULT. HE HAS CRISS-CROSSED LACES INTO ITS FORM IN A COLLABORATIVE SNEAKER WITH CONVERSE, AND SLAPPED IT ACROSS THE CROTCH OF TIGHTY-WHITEY BRIEFS. EVEN WRITING THAT OUT EXPRESSES OWENS’ WRY SENSE OF HUMOUR, BUT NOT EVERYONE SEES IT THAT WAY. FATHER VINCENT LAMPERT, A PRIEST AND, INCIDENTALLY, THE DESIGNATED EXORCIST OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE OF INDIANAPOLIS, DENOUNCED OWENS’ CONVERSE. HE SAID THE DESIGNS “CREATE A FASCINATION WITH EVIL”. OWENS ROLLS HIS EYES A LITTLE WHEN I BRING IT UP. “I SENSE SOMETIMES THAT SOME PEOPLE THINK THAT I TAKE IT REALLY SERIOUSLY. IT’S NOT, IT’S CAMP,” HE SAYS. “THAT PENTAGRAM IS MY CAMP SYMBOL OF REJECTING MORALISM AND JUDGMENT. NO ONE GETS IT. I DON’T BELIEVE IN SATAN. COME ON!” OWENS PULLS OUT THE LAST SYLLABLE, INCREDULOUSLY. OWENS BEGAN HIS BUSINESS WITHOUT FORMAL FASHION DESIGN TRAINING — HE STUDIED FINE ARTS AT THE OTIS ART INSTITUTE OF PARSONS SCHOOL OF DESIGN, IN LOS ANGELES. HE DID, HOWEVER, STUDY PATTERN-CUTTING AT A TRADE COLLEGE, THEN BEGAN TO WORK FOR THE CITY’S KNOCK-OFF MERCHANTS, PATTERN-CUTTING COPIES OF DESIGNER CLOTHES IN CHEAPER FABRICS.

OWENS STILL WORKS HANDS-ON ON HIS CLOTHES, DRAPING AND CUTTING, DEVISING SILHOUETTES AND SHAPES. FEW DESIGNERS HAVE THE SIMPLE TECHNICAL SKILLS TO DO THAT, AND IT GIVES OWENS A REMARKABLE LEVEL OF CONTROL. YOU SENSE THAT ACROSS HIS ENTIRE BUSINESS, WHICH INCLUDES ALL-IMPORTANT PRE-COLLECTIONS AND DIFFUSION LINES LILIES AND DRKSHDW, AS WELL AS A BUNCH OF INCREDIBLE AND HEINOUSLY EXPENSIVE MONOLITHIC FURNITURE. THE LATTER INCLUDES AN ALABASTER BED THAT NECESSITATED ONE CLIENT TO STRENGTHEN THE FLOOR OF THEIR HOUSE TO BEAR ITS TWO-TONNE WEIGHT, AND A ROCK-CRYSTAL TOILET. THE PRICES FOR BOTH ARE AVAILABLE ONLY ON REQUEST, BUT A ROCK-CRYSTAL CHALICE COST $6,000. IT SOLD OUT.

COMMERCIAL ISN’T A DIRTY WORD TO OWENS. “I LOVE THAT STUFF SELLS,” HE SAYS. “I WANT IT TO SELL, BECAUSE THAT MEANS PEOPLE UNDERSTAND IT AND RESPOND TO IT, AND THAT THE MESSAGE MAKES SENSE.” NEVERTHELESS, OWENS ALSO UNDERSTANDS THE IMPORTANCE NOT ONLY OF SELLING SCHMATTES, BUT SELLING THE DREAM. “WE WANT AESTHETIC EXCELLENCE,” HE ASSERTS. PERCEPTIONS OF OWENS CAN BE MISLEADING. HIS CLOTHES ARE OFTEN DESCRIBED AS GOTH, CULTISH, WITH A STURM UND DRANG SENSE OF TURMOIL — YOU CAN MAYBE BLAME THOSE CAMPY PENTAGRAMS AND TRAILING ROBES. IN FACT, HIS COLOUR PALETTES ARE OFTEN DELICATE, MULTI-HUED; HIS MODELS MAY BE JACKED UP ON BOOTS THAT RESEMBLE STAGE COSTUMES FOR KISS, BUT THE CLOTHES COLLIDE GLAM ROCK WITH ARTFUL REFERENCES TO THE INTERWAR COUTURE OF CHARLES JAMES, MADELEINE VIONNET AND ALIX GRES. THEY ARE EXQUISITELY MADE. AND WHILE OWENS HIMSELF CAN SEEM HARD AND UNAPPROACHABLE, IN PERSON HE IS WARM, UNPRETENTIOUS, HUMOROUS AND HEARTFELT ABOUT HIS LOVE OF WHAT HE DOES. “I THINK FUNDAMENTALLY, THE ESSENCE IS IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT SUGGESTING OPTIONS TO A VERY NARROW, BIGOTED PERCEPTION OF WHAT IS BEAUTIFUL,” HE SAYS, OF HIS WORK. “I JUST WANT TO GO A LITTLE FURTHER.” AND SOMETIMES “FURTHER” MEANS A PENTAGRAM, ON THE CROTCH OF A PAIR OF UNDERPANTS. “COME ON,” OWENS SAYS, AGAIN, LAUGHING UNEXPECTEDLY. “THAT’S HILARIOUS.”