Interview Magazine: Rick Owens Interview

Having showcased his newest collection, Interview Magazine met with Rick Owens after his most recent Paris show. Agreeing to be the subject of a brief interview, Owens first details his key role in the highly influential neo-Gothic movement that first gripped the fashion world around 5 years ago. Owens continues to detail the ways in which he has evolved and what elements he hopes to have retained and developed. All those interested may read excerpts from the interview below.

Five years ago, you were at the forefront of a neo-Goth movement. Today, lots of other designers have been influenced by that aesthetic. How do you progress and move away from that?

When something is in the air, everyone is influenced, so I don’t really think of it like that. But in any case, you move on, you try to develop, grow and stay true to yourself.

Have you evolved much since you launched your label?

I think so—I actually feel this show is a lot different from what I was doing five years ago, and hopefully in five years’ time I’ll be doing something different too. Again, you never radically change either, there is always a sense of continuation, every collection is an extension of the previous, some things are never going to change, and I will always still be me.

So what are you leaving behind, what are you keeping, and what are you introducing in your collection today?

There is a lot more control today. Five years ago, I worked with the idea of collapse, downfall, abandon—now I work a lot more with control, which I find a very poignant idea, because one inevitably always fails. So I suppose I’m drawn to a control doomed to collapse.