Rick Owens

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Rick Owens
Rick Owens

Richard 'Rick' Saturnino Owens (* 1961 in Porterville , California ) is an American fashion designer and founder of the Rick Owens fashion brand .

Life

Owens grew up in his native Porterville and, after high school in Los Angeles in the 1980s, studied art at the Otis College of Art and Design (then called Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design, A Division of the New School for Social Research and associated with Parsons The New School for Design in New York), which he left after two years without a degree, and finally at LA Trade-Tech College, where, among other things, he learned how to use patterns . Owens then worked for several years for LA fashion companies that copied expensive branded clothing. In 1990 he met his future wife, the French artist Michéle Lamy, in their café in LA, who hired him as a fashion designer for her own fashion brand.

In 1994 Owens launched his own fashion label Rick Owens with Lamy with a women's fashion collection, which he sold exclusively to the LA retailer Charles Gallay and then to Maxfield LA in the following years . In 2001 he entered into a contract with the Italian fashion agency of Luca Ruggeri and Elsa Lanzo, EBA (Eo Bocci Associati), for the production and distribution of the collections. The clothing is made by the textile company Olmar and Mirto from Concordia sulla Secchia . Ruggeri and Lanzo hold 20% of the shares in Owens' company Owencorp., While Owens himself kept the remaining 80%. Owens launched a men's collection in 2002. In 2002 the Council of Fashion Designers of America awarded him the award for the best young designer, even though Owens was 40 years old at the time.

In September 2002 Owens showed his first runway collection at New York Fashion Week with the support of Anna Wintour . He then got a job at the French fashion company Revillon Frères , for which he presented a collection for the first time in 2003, which is why he moved to Paris with his own fashion brand. Since then he has shown his high-priced collections at Paris Fashion Week . In 2005, the women's second line Lilies was added to the Owens portfolio. Owens ended his work for Revillon in 2007. In the same year, the Hun Rick Owens women's luxury line was introduced (called Rick Owens Palais Royale from 2007 to 2011 ). In 2008 Owens introduced the two-line denim line DRKSHDW (for Dark Shadow) by Rick Owens . A furniture line is also part of the Owens range.

Stylistic device in Owens' avant-garde fashion include androgynous unisex designs, draped around the body, plain-colored fabrics, extension bonnets, tank tops , tunics , the demonstrative use of leather and zippers, bomber and leather jackets. His high-quality craftsmanship designs have been compared to the clothing of post-apocalyptic societies, such as those shown in the Mad Max films. Owens uses elements of grunge , goth , rock and punk in his collections , and prefers neutral colors such as beige, gray, white and black.

In 2013 Owens started a collaboration with Adidas on high-priced sneakers. He designed backpacks and bags for Eastpak. In 2018 and 2019 Owens collaborated with Birkenstock and designed a range of shoes in his typical style.

Rick Owens stores, all of which are designed with exposed concrete walls, are located in Paris, London, Milan, Manhattan, Miami, Los Angeles, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Prizes and awards (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ilka Piepgras: Glamor and Decay. In: Die Zeit , March 14, 2008.
personal data
SURNAME Owens, Rick
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American fashion designer
DATE OF BIRTH 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH Porterville , California