R
ick Owens is one of fashion’s last true oddballs. He has built an empire on pugnacious creations like leather jackets with spiked shoulders and tottering platform boots. Among his fans are the rapper Yasiin Bey, LeBron James, and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, who has walked across tech-conference stages in the designer’s drop-crotch trousers. “I appreciate the freaks,” says Rick Owens, 62. “I want to be somebody that says you can invent yourself, that you can release the freak within.”
Crucially, Owens retains control of his business, swimming strongly against the current of consolidation that has swept up many luxury fashion brands. He splits his time between his factory near Venice and the Left Bank Parisian home he shares with his wife, Michèle Lamy.
The designer could be seen as his own best billboard. Built like a CrossFit trainer with long raven locks, he floats around his office in slinky black shirts and drooping trousers of his own design. Here, he speaks to WSJ. about his workout routine, why he naps every day, and how he feels about seeing his designs get knocked off.
Here are a few things Rick Owens revealed to WSJ. Magazine…
On retaining control of his business
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“I am independent and I can do whatever the f— I want,” says Rick Owens.
On the first thing he does when he wakes up in the morning
“I have a double espresso. I have a minibar in the dressing room next to the bedroom that has all the stuff that I need. I considered putting a toaster in there, but I thought, Oh, I can’t get that domestic.”
“I get back to bed, and I go through New York and foreign emails that have arrived overnight. Then I turn on the TV, put on a movie, and leave it with the sound off. I have that movie playing continuously while I’m getting dressed. I have an exposed shower next to the bed in the bedroom so I can watch the TV while showering.”
“I get dressed, and then I go downstairs two floors to my office. I’ve always lived where I’ve worked, the whole thing all blends together, I don’t separate.”
On lunch
Avocados, eggs and toast most of the time. Or avocado, salmon, and tortillas. I don’t drink enough water. I keep thinking I should drink water, I just never do.
After lunch
“I will go upstairs, draw the curtains, have a couple cigarettes while I’m looking through Instagram, and then I’ll take a nap for an hour in my dressing room. I know that I only have a certain amount of energy a day, and I need it protected.”
On his workout routine
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“I do stomach every day—you just have to do sit-ups. I do the kind where I’m on my butt and you lift your legs and you lift your torso so you’re kind of scissoring. I’ll do about 90 of those. Then I’ll do mountain climbers—120 of those. You can get all this stuff done during “I Feel Love,” by Donna Summer.”
On how he likes to spend his days off
The best thing is to walk from my house, cross the river to walk through the Jardin des Tuileries, pop in at the Louvre, and then come home for a nap.
On how Rick Owens treats his signature long black hair
“I dye it myself with Bigen hair dye, which is really inexpensive and generic. I’ve been dyeing my hair with that ever since I was a goth on Hollywood Boulevard. I dye my eyebrows, too. I also go every three months to a place that chemically straightens it because my hair is naturally kind of curly. I don’t know what they use on it, I’m sure it’s not helping the bald spot at all, but I’d rather have the convenience.”
On which of his designs he’s been wearing recently
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“I wear platform boots. Platforms are kind of a protest against conservative classical beauty. They are a flag for an alternative aesthetic”.
On traveling
“I don’t travel so much, because wherever I’m going to go rarely is worth the energy and the disappointing aesthetics you have to put yourself through to get there,” says Rick Owens.
On seeing someone on the street wearing his clothes
“It’s always a delight, but it’s almost more of a delight when I see knockoffs. I was on a metro in Italy years ago, and there was somebody wearing a cheap knockoff of one of my jackets. I couldn’t have been more thrilled. My aesthetic penetrated the culture so much that it made its way to a cheap knockoff.”
On the best advice he’s received
“At some point where I was frustrated as a teenager, my dad kind of sarcastically said, “You know, Rick, life isn’t fair.” That has stayed with me forever.”
Photo credit: Luca Grottolo for WSJ. Magazine
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