Rick Owens
Born in California, Rick Owens is a Paris-based designer whose groundbreaking collections have earned him the nickname The Lord of Darkness. Influencing countless designers, his fusion of gothic aesthetic and couture-like sophistication has made him to one of the most influential designers of his time.
Having dropped out of Otis College of Art and Design, Owens took a course in pattern cutting at Los Angeles’s Trade Technical College. A scarcity of work led to Owens accepting a position cutting patterns for illegal copies of designer clothing. In 1994, he founded his own label, selling exclusively to Charles Gallay, one of LA’s hippest and most directional retailers. In 2001, the designer sought international expansion and agreed a distribution deal with Eo Bocci Associati. As a consequence, the designer’s production relocated to Italy. With his partner and muse Michèle Lamy, he conceives of collections that marry classical influences with brutalist design and an ascetic tribalism.