The Rick Owens Story
By: Karin Nelson
(Photo below: Dress designed by Rick Owens. Photo courtesy of Rick Owens.)

NEW YORK, Sep 1, 2001/ --- When you create a label, you're telling a story," explains designer Rick Owens, whose own fashion story reads like a carefully constructed gothic fairy tale.

Moody-toned, draped and deconstructed, his L.A.-based and inspired designs embody all the glamour, glam rock edge, and broken-down ease that is Hollywood. He likens them to "theater without the ostentation and intimidation."

And if you're hearing his name for the first time, it's not because he's a new star on the fashion scene, or has "assembled the press team before the clothing," as he jeeringly describes what seems to be today's protocol.

In fact, his signature asymmetrical dresses and fitted jackets with unfinished hems have been worn for years by loyal fans like Courtney Love, Madonna, and Michele Lamy - the owner of Hollywood's hotspot Les Deux Cafés and his longtime lover and muse.

Rather, if you're hearing his name for the first time it's because, after six years of crafting his line, his story is gaining speed.

Having recently signed a deal with the Bologna-based Eo Bocci Associates, which is the sales agent behind similarly dark and dramatic designers like Olivier Theyskens and Ann Demeulemeester, Owens is poised to broaden not only his line (plans include more shoes, bags, and clothing), but also its distribution. If it's not too cliché to say so, Owens is about to have a moment.

"It was cute being independent," he says dryly. "But I'm almost 40. People look at me and assume I couldn't get my act together. If I don't make a move now it could almost blemish my label."

His designs aren't about to start showing up in the editorial spreads of mainstream magazines, though. "I'm not being snotty, but it's just not my thing," he confesses of his aversion towards celeb-driven, super-hyped labels. "Thankfully, I can afford to keep it the way I like it, to be careful."

It all begs the question as to whether there is such a thing as 'careful expansion.' Possibly. Right now, Owens is content in having attracted the keen interest of pivotal fashion folk like Maria Luisa - the Pat Field of Paris - who's stocked her store with his label and has gotten it recognition in publications like French Vogue.

His desire for a quieter, more meticulous kind of growth has also led him to forego the runway this fashion season, opting instead for gallery-space presentations in New York and Paris. "My designs are subtle; they're not sensational. It would be wrong to present them within a spectacular context," he explains. "I'm not an extrovert. I don't have a burning desire to come out at the end of the show and bow before an audience," adding simply, "I just would like to sell more of my product."

Fall 2004

RICK OWENS
Paris Press Contact:
MICHELE MONTAGNE
Contact: Michele Montagne
184 rue Saint-Maur
75001 Paris
FRANCE
Tel: (+33) 1 42 03 91 00
Fax: (+33) 1 42 03 12 22

New York Press Contact:
Pierre Rougier
PR Consulting
Tel: (212) 228-8181