Rick Owens

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rick Owens
Born 1962
Nationality American
Education Otis/Parsons,Los Angeles
Labels Rick Owens, Revillon
Awards Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award, 2007CFDA Perry Ellis Emerging Talent Award, 2002

Rick Owens, (born 1962) is an American fashion designer known for his edgy fashions favored by rock stars and people who like to cultivate an avant garde reputation. Since 2003, he has worked out of Paris where in addition to his own line, he serves as creative director for Revillon, the furrier.[1]

Born and raised in Central California (Porterville, CA), Owens studied fine arts at Otis / Parsons College of Art and Design in Los Angeles for two years before a pattern-making class led him to drop out and work for some local companies that produced sportswear and inexpensive imitations of designer clothing. His own label, begun in 1994[2] found a following, selling exclusively to Charles Gallay, a pioneering Los Angeles retailer who kept Owens in business for several years. In 2001, he signed with Italian sales agent Eo Bocci Associati for world wide distribution, and his production moved to Italy.

In 2007 he was awarded a Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award. In 2002, he won the Council of Fashion Designers of America Perry Ellis Emerging Talent Award. His look has been described as "glamour-meets-grunge", but Owens himself says "I try to make clothes the way Lou Reed does music—minimal chord changes, and direct. It is sweet but kind of creepy. It's about giving everything I make a worn, softened feeling. It's about an elegance being tinged with a bit of the barbaric, the sloppiness of something dragging and the luxury of not caring. At Revillon, I felt it isn't about displaying one's wealth, but rather giving the woman a selfish pleasure. It is about using sable as the lining under a very humble jacket, the luxury is all hers." Courtney Love, Madonna and Helena Bonham Carter are among the celebrities who have been seeing wearing his clothes, and Patricia Field used some of his pieces to create a fashion-forward look for Emily Blunt's character in the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada.[1] He recently opened a shop in the Palais Royal, where is showing furniture as well as clothing.[3]

He is married to Michele Lamy, who owned the popular Los Angeles restaurant Les Deux Cafés until the couple moved to Paris.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Author unknown; 2006 Rick Owens; New York; retrieved December 23, 2006.
  2. ^ 2005, History of Fashion Designer Rick Owens, historyofashion.com" retrieved December 23, 2006,
  3. ^ a b Davis, Peter; September 19, 2006; "Raw Power: At Home in Paris with Designer Rick Owens"; Papermag.com; retrieved December 23, 2006.

[edit] External links

This biographical article related to fashion is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
This article about an American businessperson born in the 1960s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.