Richard Owens

Richard Saturnino Owens a renowned fashion designer and popularly known for his furniture line was a young boy when he left with a dream of becoming a fashion designer. Being from a conservative household, he had his hardships to get into the fashion line. He was born on 18 November 1962 in Porterville, California. There was cultural fusion in his family as his mother was Mexican and his father was American which reflects in his work of art.

From his household, he moved to Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles. After being dropped out of Otis, he did pattern cutting class at the Los Angeles Trade Technical College. During the period when fashion business was taking a turn, and people were losing their jobs, Owens had to copy pattern cutting for designers illegally. After all the hardships, in 1994 he started his label selling it exclusively to Charles Gallay, the hippy, and directional retailers. Rick operated out of a store in Hollywood Boulevard.

For expansion requirements he cut a deal with Eo Bocci Associati in 2001 and as a consequence, he had to move to Italy. Rick decided to move permanently to Paris in 2003 and shifted the entire production in Italy. He set up his home and atelier in a five-story building which served as the house of former French President Françoise Mitterrand. His runway compilation is mounted in Paris ever since. In 2005, he introduced a furniture collection, using raw plywood, moose antlers marble, the anthology is inspired by his favorite shapes from Eileen to Brancusi to Californian skate parks.

The furniture collection is at the Musee d’Art Moderne in Paris and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. In 2013, he presented his ‘Prehistoric’ collection at the Carpenters Workshop Gallery in London. Further in his journey as a fashion designer, on September 15, 2017, Owens exhibited his first museum exhibition showcasing over 20 years of life’s work, entitled as “Subhuman, Inhuman, Superhuman” opened at the Triennale di Milano.

The luxury fashion designer has a vast collection of women and men’s tops, bags, shoes, jackets, and wallets. In the Fashion Week 2018, his newest collection dropped named Sisyphus. Apart from the fashion line, he has a furniture line and also diffusion lines- Drkshdw, Rickowenslilies, Hunrickowens. Rick Owens is married to Michèle Lamy who is also his business partner. Along with his partner, he conceives the fusion of Classical influences to Brutalist design and severe tribalism.

Asymmetrical tunics, shorts and trousers, elongated t-shirts, and Owens’s signature Geobasket sneakers and frequent collaborations with Adidas present a conception of masculinity at once ancient and futuristic, profane and priestly. Recognized by many fashion enthusiasts, he has won a lot of awards during his career. Rick has been awarded twice by the CDFA, the New Talent Awards in 2002 after his debut catwalk show in New York Click to look into! >> Read More... and 2017 with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award again.

His other remarkable accolades include the prestigious Council of Fashion Designers of America’s Perry Ellis Emerging Talent Award, Fashion Group International’s Rule Breaking Award, Cooper-Hewitt National Design.