FINANCIAL TIMES — THE RADICAL CHIC OF RICK OWENS — DECEMBER 9 2017 — BY MARK C O’FLAHERTY

DECEMBER 9 2017

MEET THE VISIONARY DESIGNER WHO HAS SPUN THE AVANT-GARDE INTO GOLD, BUILDING A €100M-A-YEAR BRAND

THIS SEEMS AS GOOD A TIME AS ANY FOR A RETROSPECTIVE. PERHAPS IT’S OVERDUE. TO SOME, RICK OWENS STILL SEEMS LIKE AN ENFANT TERRIBLE FROM THE LA UNDERGROUND, BUT FOR 23 YEARS HE HAS BEEN FORGING A RADICAL AESTHETIC IN FASHION AND BUILDING AN IMPRESSIVELY SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS.

AS HE PREPARES TO OPEN AN EXHIBITION FEATURING 100 ARCHIVE PIECES AT THE TRIENNALE DI MILANO — UNDER THE TYPICALLY OWENS TITLE SUBHUMAN INHUMAN SUPERHUMAN — WE FIND HIM IN A SWEET SPOT: HEADING UP AN INDEPENDENT BUSINESS WITH A TURNOVER IN EXCESS OF €100M A YEAR, NINE FLAGSHIP STORES, AND MENSWEAR AND WOMENSWEAR AVAILABLE IN ABOUT 800 RETAIL POINTS WORLDWIDE. IT’S DIFFICULT TO THINK OF A RADICAL INNOVATOR WITH SIMILAR STATUS IN FASHION WHO HASN’T EITHER FALLEN BY THE WAYSIDE OR BEEN ABSORBED BY THE TRACTOR BEAM OF KERING OR LVMH.

‘I’VE HAD A FEW OFFERS IN THE PAST,’ EXPLAINS OWENS FROM THE BUNKER-LIKE HQ AND HOME HE SHARES WITH HIS WIFE MICHÈLE LAMY IN THE SEVENTH ARRONDISSEMENT OF PARIS. ‘I WAS TEMPTED IN MY FORTIES BECAUSE I WONDERED IF I’D BE ABLE TO SUSTAIN THIS AS A CAREER, AND IT MIGHT BE THE MOST MONEY I’D EVER GET.’ THE DESIGNER, WHO TURNED 56 THIS YEAR AND WHO MOVED FROM LA TO PARIS IN 2003, NEVER SOLD OUT. INSTEAD, HE ESTABLISHED OWENSCORP IN 2004 WITH CHIEF EXECUTIVE ELSA LANZO AND COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR LUCA RUGGERI.

BEING A VERTICAL BUSINESS IN FASHION IS INCREASINGLY COMMON IN THE MASS MARKET — BRANDS LIKE ZARA OWN AND MANAGE EVERY ASPECT OF DESIGN, MANUFACTURING AND RETAIL. THERE ARE NO MIDDLEMEN. FOR A NICHE, DIRECTIONAL LUXURY LABEL LIKE RICK OWENS, IT’S MORE UNUSUAL, BUT THE DESIGNER HAS ACHIEVED IT. ‘WE ABSORBED OUR MANUFACTURING INTO THE COMPANY,’ OWENS EXPLAINS. ‘WE WERE NO LONGER LICENSING IT OUT. IN THIS BUSINESS, YOU WANT TO HAVE AS MUCH CONTROL OF THE PRODUCTS [AS POSSIBLE]. ALSO, YOU GET MORE PROFIT, WHICH IS NICE. WE BOUGHT THE FACTORY WE WERE USING IN CONCORDIA, AND NOW IT’S RICK OWENS LAND — IT’S A TOTAL FORTRESS JUST FOR US.’

BEFORE BECOMING A FULL VERTICAL OPERATION, THE DESIGNER’S MANUFACTURING WAS HANDLED BY A SEPARATE COMPANY, UNDER LICENCE. AFTER OWENSCORP WAS ESTABLISHED, IT CAME TO HIS ATTENTION THAT THE LICENSEE HAD USED A FACTORY IN MOLDOVA FOR CERTAIN GARMENTS, WHICH WERE THEN FINISHED IN ITALY AND SOLD WITH A ‘MADE IN ITALY’ TAG. IT WAS COMMON AND LAWFUL PRACTICE FOR MANY LUXURY BRANDS, BUT IT MADE OWENS WANT TOTAL CONTROL. THEN THE INTERNATIONAL LAWS CHANGED AND THE GARMENTS HAD TO HAVE ‘MADE IN MOLDOVA’ ON THE LABEL. ‘THAT WAS ONE OF THE REASONS IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD MOMENT TO TAKE OVER MANUFACTURING,’ HE SAYS.

TODAY HE OWNS BOTH THE ITALIAN AND MOLDOVAN FACTORIES. HE KEPT THE LATTER BECAUSE ‘IT HAD BEEN OPENED EXCLUSIVELY TO CREATE RICK OWENS, AND THERE WAS NOTHING SUBSTANDARD ABOUT THE WORK. WE CURRENTLY MAKE 5 PER CENT OF OUR MERCHANDISE THERE — OUR DRKSHDW LABEL. AND THE FACTORY WILL BE FULLY SA8000 [A SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY STANDARD] CERTIFIED IN 2018.’

EVEN CONSIDERING THE PROFITS, THE BENEFITS OF ‘GOING VERTICAL’ ARE OBVIOUS: YOU CAN BE NIMBLE IN TERMS OF MATCHING MANUFACTURING NUMBERS TO WHAT’S SELLING. AND OWENS HAS ALWAYS BEEN GOOD AT THAT — HE HAS MANAGED TO REMAIN AN ‘INSIDER LABEL’ WHILE SPINNING THE AVANT-GARDE INTO GOLD. HIS SS18 COLLECTIONS FOR MEN AND WOMEN, BOTH ENTITLED ‘DIRT’, SCRAMBLE BODY SHAPES WITH VOLUMES AND ZIPS. THE USE OF SPECIALLY DEVELOPED CANVAS IS A NOD TO ALL THINGS ART SCHOOL, WHILE THE SILHOUETTES ARE, AS IS NOW USUAL WITH OWENS, AKIN TO EXPERIMENTAL ARCHITECTURAL MAQUETTES. BUT WHILE THE RUNWAY AND THE SHOPFRONTS ARE FULL OF FUTURE MUSEUM PIECES, THERE ARE ALWAYS BASICS BEHIND THEM. VARIATIONS ON HIS SIMPLE BUT DISTINCTIVE VOLUMINOUS BLACK TEE AND SUPERSIZED SNEAKERS SELL IN THE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF UNITS.

‘THEY’RE ALWAYS BREAD AND BUTTER,’ SAYS OWENS. ‘TO THIS DAY, ALMOST ALL OF THE 13 PIECES FROM MY FIRST COLLECTION STILL SELL WELL. I’M PROUD OF THAT. I WAS ABLE TO CREATE SOMETHING TIMELESS.’

THE RICK OWENS AESTHETIC IS THOUGHT OF AS UNCOMPROMISING AND AGGRESSIVE. AND IT IS — PURPOSELY. INDEPENDENCE BRINGS FREEDOM, WHICH HAS LET THE DESIGNER WORK ON GAY ZOMBIE MOVIES WITH FILM-MAKER BRUCE LABRUCE, AND PRODUCE A VIDEO THIS YEAR WITH THE TRANSGRESSIVE PERFORMER CHRISTEENE ENTITLED ‘BUTT MUSCLE’.

AND YET, WHILE OWENS WORKS ON HIS AW18 DESIGNS IN HIS PARIS STUDIO — LISTENING ALTERNATELY TO JULIE LONDON AND 1990S HARDCORE TECHNO — HE EXPLAINS THE CLASSICISM BEHIND IT ALL: ‘MY JERSEY DRAPED PIECES ARE ALL BASED ON A LANGUID BIAS SILHOUETTE THAT CAN BE TRACED BACK TO WHEN I WAS LIVING ON HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD. I KEEP GOING BACK TO THE 1930S, AND I STILL WATCH THOSE BLACK-AND-WHITE MOVIES EVERY MORNING. THAT AESTHETIC IS EMBEDDED IN ME — IT’S A PATINA, LIKE A HOLLYWOOD SLEAZE FILTER.’

AS RICK OWENS CHANGES HIS SHAPES SEASON AFTER SEASON, THAT MIX OF THE DECO DRAPE AND THE STREET URCHINS OF SUNSET BOULEVARD UNDERPIN EVERYTHING. IT’S LIKE GARDENIA WITH A TWIST OF AMYL NITRATE. HE’S NO LONGER THE PUNK UPSTART, HE’S THE NEW ESTABLISHMENT — A 21ST-CENTURY YVES SAINT LAURENT.

WITH HIS CAREER — WHICH INCORPORATES LIMITED-EDITION FURNITURE AS WELL AS THE AFOREMENTIONED MUSICAL AND CINEMATIC PROJECTS — AT FULL THROTTLE, WHY A RETROSPECTIVE NOW, AT THIS PRECISE MOMENT? SITTING IN HIS ATELIER, SIFTING THROUGH MOUNTAINS OF OLD SHOW INVITATIONS AND EPHEMERA, HE EXPLAINS: ‘I HAD BEEN LOOKING AT MY ARCHIVES, AND THEY WERE SHAMBOLIC. I WONDERED WHY I NEVER HAD THE SELF-CONFIDENCE TO BELIEVE WE WOULD LAST. BUT BACK THEN IT WAS ABOUT SURVIVAL RATHER THAN LEGACY. AND THEN I WAS OFFERED THIS BEAUTIFUL 1930S BUILDING IN MILAN, WHICH IS RIGHT UP MY STREET, ARCHITECTURALLY. I’M NOT SOMEONE WHO LIKES TO BE REPRESENTED, AND THEY WERE OFFERING ME THE CHANCE TO SUMMARISE MY OWN STORY IN MY OWN WORDS. I COULDN’T THINK OF A MORE IDEAL SCENARIO.’