Spotlight On...Rick Owens
The cult-inspiring designer is giving his fans more of what they want this fall with two new books.
In some menswear circles, Rick Owens is a god. Or if not quite a deity, then certainly royalty. To wit, he is often called the Lord of Darkness or simply the Dark Lord. His clothes—softly draped in smoky hues, sculptural and otherworldly—are uniquely positioned at the intersection of luxury and streetwear. Think of it as the ease of his native California married with the rigor and creative sophistication of Paris where Owens has lived for almost 20 years—plus his own dose of signature subversion.
His clothes may not be for everyone, but Owens has deeply loyal fans, from rapper A$AP Rocky to Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, who sat in the front row for the designer’s Fall/Winter 2019 show in Paris and outfits himself extensively in Owens’s wares. This September, the Owens faithful will have not one but two books from their lord, both from Rizzoli. The first, titled “Rick Owens Photographed by Danielle Levitt” features images from seven men’s collections—and ten women’s—shot by the American photographer whom Owens met in 2014. Owens-clad models are photographed in saturated colors against a stark white background, allowing for close examination of his unique vision.
The second book documents the work of Larry LeGaspi, the 1970s-era New York designer best known for creating dramatic stage looks for Kiss, Funkadelic and Grace Jones. LeGaspi has been a longtime inspiration for Owens—who paid homage to the late designer in his Fall/Winter 2019 men’s and women’s collections—but he was mostly forgotten. The new book brings LeGaspi’s colorful world back to life through his archives which include sketches, photographs, press clippings, and designs.