Image via Complex Original
The Telegraph recently published a profile on Rick Owens, who's gearing up for the launch of his incredible installation at Selfridges. The U.S.-born designer, as you know, heads his eponymous Parisian-based label—one that's become known for its dark, monochromatic palette and Owens' attention to unorthodox draping. The profile reveals quite a few details about Owens' career and life as a 20-something and 30-something who spent his days working on his craft and hanging out with the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles. There's also some talk about why he hates the French, why he withdrew from purchasing an entire island in Venice, Italy, and why people take his clothes more seriously than he does. We highlighted all the interesting bits for your pleasure. Here's Everything We Learned About Rick Owens From His Most Recent Profile.
Rick Owens says people take his clothes more seriously than he does
Owens told The Telegraph that his label and designs were meant to be "something that was very much about tolerance, about embracing everybody. But, he admits now, that "we've created this thing that has a wall that kind of eliminates a lot of people, and I regret that a little bit," adding that "it's been said before that most people take my clothes more seriously than I do."
After sending a dance step team down the runway, Rick Owens says his next collection will be shown more conventionally
Rick Owens was celebrated for stepping away from the norm, sending a dance step team down the runway instead of models for his women's Spring 2014 show in Paris. But the designer says that there won't be a repeat next season. "I don't want to get trapped into being Mr. Showbiz, or to lose that sense of reserve I started out with," he said.
He grew up without a television
Owens told The Telegraph that he had a rough childhood because "I was just a small town-sissy, and that town was very conservative." Something that further alienated him from the other kids was that he didn't have a television in his home.
Without T.V., the American-born designer developed an interest in classical music and literature. While this alienated him from his peers, and would result in some bullying, he says he's "grateful now. I'm even grateful for the bullying, because it motivated me."
He wanted to be a painter
Owens briefly attended art school, with hopes of becoming a painter, but eventually left because of the cost. He went on to learn pattern-cutting.
He spent his 20s and 30s hanging out with the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles
"It was very druggy and hustlery, and super-glamorous," he told The Telegraph.
He used to work for his wife, Michèle Lamy, at her eponymous label in Los Angeles
Everyone knows by now who Owens' wife and muse is. But it turns out, the designer used to work for Lamy, who had a namesake label in Los Angeles. Lamy, though, decided to become a restaurateur and, as Owens says, "abandoned her business to her husband. So then I started my own thing. I would like to think that it was more about my courage and my recklessness of throwing myself into my destiny, but it wasn't that so much; it just kind of . . . it was the next thing to do."
He almost bought an entire island in Venice, Italy
Owens' label reportedly generates $500 million (£300 million) a year in sales. It's no surprise then that he almost bought an entire island in Venice, Italy. He withdrew from the purchase only because the Italian bureaucracy was so impassable.
He cites Giorgio Armani as someone he admires
Despite the obvious difference in their aesthetics, Owens says he "admires" Giorgio Armani. "...He's very consistent," he told The Telegraph. "Very much about beige, and a kind of hard-edged softness, with a lot of 30s in it—which is a decade I've always looked to aesthetically."
He doesn't like the French
Owens was born in Porterville, CA but now spends most of his time in Paris. (He's also the only U.S.-born designer to lead his own house during Paris Fashion Week.) But he told The Telegraph that he's never perfected his French because "it's just too hard" and that he doesn't like the renowned Parisian trait of being reserved and detached from others. "Why do you think the French are like that?" he said. "I just assumed it was a cliché when I moved there, but then I realised that it's not." He added that he just "ignores" them and "doesn't have patience with rudeness."