Paris fashion museum sheds light on Rick Owens’ gothic universe

Culture

Rick Owens. Spring/Summer 2024, Ready-to-Wear. Credits: ©Launchmetrics/spotlight.

Paris – From Saturday, the Palais Galliera in Paris will shed light on the dark and gothic universe of American designer Rick Owens. This is the first French retrospective of this unique and avant-garde creator, a symbol of underground fashion.

Also, for the first time, the Parisian fashion museum held an exhibition in daylight, which is not usually kind to delicate garments, revealed the exhibition's curator, Alexandre Samson, head of the museum's contemporary collections.

"We are returning to the Palais Galliera with its initial purpose, open to the outside," Samson explained to journalists on Wednesday.

‘Temple of Love’ offers all the keys to understanding the origins of Owens’ style, an idol of the post-punk generation since he founded his own brand in 1992.

His shows at Paris Fashion Week are a meeting point for a loyal following; hardcore fans who don unisex and ultra-fitted clothing, exaggerated shoulder pads, platform boots, with black and grey as the predominant colours.

With 100 garments, art objects and videos, Owens took over the Palais, including a room with his most daring proposals, access to which is not recommended for minors.

It’s a way of remembering his difficult beginnings in the small Californian town of Porterville.

Un-Californian hobbies

Born in 1961, a marginalised teenager, Owens "discovered drugs and alcohol, before his mother persuaded him to go to Los Angeles to take painting courses," explained Samson.

His mother also introduced him to sewing and pattern making, and Owens soon discovered he was more comfortable designing clothes.

His hobbies had little to do with the Golden State: he avidly read French decadent poets, listened to punk music and admired the androgynous look of David Bowie and Iggy Pop.

He discovered nightlife and his homosexuality, but also the woman who would become his wife, French-born Michèle Lamy, who lived in Los Angeles.

She encouraged him to continue with fashion, after Owens started out in pattern making, working for a company that counterfeited clothes from major designers.

"It was really an apprenticeship based on copying," explained Samson.

Walls upholstered with felt

The first room is dedicated to those origins in Los Angeles. Its walls are entirely upholstered in dark brown felt, one of his favourite materials.

His father introduced him to Wagnerian music and science fiction novels. Owens would reuse these inspirations for his monumental shows in Paris, where he sometimes used fireworks in settings such as the large courtyard of the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris.

The second room, illuminated by the Palais Galleria's large windows, offers a glimpse into his Parisian period, from 2003, when he decided to settle in the French capital.

Paradoxically, it was when he moved away from his native California that his colour palette expanded.

He played with blood red and fluorescent tones. His mohair jumpers full of holes and a sumptuous dress made from the skin of the Amazonian pirarucu fish stand out.

Some of his designs are only for the most daring, such as in 2015, when he sent models down the runway in pairs, one hanging from the other by harnesses.

The retrospective closes with an exact reproduction of the bedroom Owens and his wife had in Los Angeles, surrounded by books.

On the museum's façade, Owens covered three large statues with sequins. And in the gardens, open to the public, he placed several concrete works, an illustration of his fondness for architectural brutalism.

The ‘Temple of Love’ exhibition will be open until January 4, and coincides with the designer's show at this Men’s Fashion Week.(AFP)

This article was translated to English using an AI tool.

Exhibition

Paris

Rick Owens