Rick Owens' Retrospective Is A Paean to the Designer's California Roots @ Palais Galliera in Paris

Rick Owens, Temple Of Love is a meditation on romance, beauty, and diversity. It archives one of today’s leading designers, transforming the museum into a shrine to creativity.

 

Courtesy of Palais Galliera

 

text by Kim Shveka

Rick Owens, Temple of Love is the first exhibition in Paris dedicated to fashion designer Rick Owens, which he creative directed himself. The massive retrospective features collections from his beginning in Los Angeles through his most recent theatrical runways in Paris’s Palais de Tokyo.

With his radical fusion of Gothic Romanticism, Brutalism, and Minimalism, which often provokes social and political themes on his runways, Rick Owens has long been known as fashion’s avant-garde designer. His aesthetic challenges conventional notions of beauty, gender, and form, often occupying a space between fashion, performance art, and architecture.

In the exhibition, we gain rare insight into the designer’s creative inner world, understanding how his references come to life and the ideas that lie behind his work. Gustave Moreau, Joseph Beuys, and Steven Parrino were among Owens’s sources of inspiration, resonating with his embrace of destruction as creation, the usage of art as a vehicle for criticism, and the glorification of beauty through excess. The exhibition also focuses on the central role played by his lifelong wife and muse, Michèle Lamy, whose presence is always felt through Owens. We get an intimate glimpse into the couple’s private world through a recreation of their California bedroom, designed using pieces from Owens’ furniture line. Just beyond the wall, their closet room is unveiled, with dark garments loosely folded next to a packed bookshelf. This section of the exhibition feels like a genuine invitation into their daily lives, where we are meant to truly feel their presence. The air itself is infused with Rick Owens’ signature scent, activating all five senses for a complete journey through their rituals.  

 

Courtesy of Palais Galliera

 

In another room, plastered with “No photos please” signs, stands perhaps the most Rick Owens-esque piece in the exhibition: a towering statue of Rick himself, mid-urination. It reads as the most cynical, provocative fountain since Marcel Duchamp.

The exhibition is extended throughout the entirety of the Palais Galliera campus, as well as the outside garden, wherein California-native plants and vines surround thirty brutalist cement sculptures. Above the garden is the building of the exhibition, whose windows display three colossal statues of Owens covered head to toe in gold. Owens saw the importance of finishing his retrospective with his origin, California. As a designer whose presence casts a looming glunge shadow over the City of Light, it’s easy even for him to overlook his roots in the Sunshine State.

Courtesy of Palais Galliera

Rick Owens, Temple of Love is on view through January 4, 2026 at Palais Galliera, 10 Av. Pierre 1er de Serbie, 75116 Paris

RIMOWA Enters The Visionary World Of Rick Owens

The Rick Owens x Rimowa collaboration is a striking union of functionality and artistic vision, blending Rimowa’s storied craftsmanship with Rick Owens’ distinctive, avant-garde aesthetic. The result is a suitcase that bridges the gap between luxury travel and contemporary design, offering a unique take on both utility and style. The standout feature of the suitcase is its patinated aluminium finish, a design element that evokes a raw, industrial sensibility while maintaining an air of sophistication. This material choice aligns with Owens’ signature aesthetic, which often leans into textured surfaces and a sense of timeless durability. Inside, the suitcase continues to innovate with an entirely leather-lined interior—a first in Rimowa’s 125-year history. From the dividers to the lining, the leather finish introduces an element of old-world refinement, creating an interior that feels as thoughtfully designed as the exterior. The juxtaposition of the suitcase’s rugged outer shell with its luxurious interior reflects the duality that defines both brands: Rimowa’s precision engineering and Owens’ creative edge. Rick Owens, a longtime Rimowa user, approaches design with a focus on essentialism, a philosophy that is evident in this collaboration. Owens has stated that his goal is to reduce life to its core necessities, which is mirrored in the suitcase’s minimalist yet striking design. “No matter how far or long, I only bring one carry-on. I wanted the outside finish to recall a bronze from Giacometti, Brâncuș I, or Richard Serra, and I wanted the interior to feel like the touch of a black leather glove.” Rick Owens added: “I don't need much, but I like my bare necessities to be as supernatural as possible.” The collaboration is highly exclusive, with only 500 pieces being released worldwide. This limited availability emphasizes the project’s collectible nature, appealing to those who value both utility and artful design in their travel accessories. In essence, the Rick Owens x Rimowa suitcase serves as a functional travel companion that doubles as a statement piece. It offers a fresh perspective on luxury, challenging traditional notions of what high-end luggage can represent while remaining true to both brands’ core identities.

Starting January 30th, 2025, the RIMOWA x Rick Owens Original Cabin Bronze (RRP 2900 €) will be made available at select RIMOWA and Rick Owens stores worldwide and online at RIMOWA.com and RickOwens.eu.

Read A Conversation Between Ferrari Sheppard & Michèle Lamy On The Occasion Of His Solo Exhibition @ UTA Artist Space →

IMG_0428.jpeg

Ferrari Sheppard is an enigmatic, multi-disciplinary artist whose practice defies classification, and lives firmly at the center of a three-dimensional venn diagram. Likewise, the work of Michèle Lamy is as fluid and instinctive as it is crystallized in her unmistakable and ever-expansive character. She is not just a maven of fashion, design, and art, or an innovator of music and former restaurateur. She is a cultivator of community and expression. Sheppard is not just a painter, writer, photographer and music producer. He is an activist who has worked to provide relief aid in Haiti, shape economic policy and development in South Africa, and shine light on the Israel-Palestine conflict. It makes perfect sense that the two of them would fortuitously meet at Mr. Chow’s while stepping outside for a cigarette. Sheppard’s recent solo exhibition of paintings, Positions of Power, at UTA Artist Space is a testament to the mistreatment of a generation for profit by the criminal justice system. They are love letters to those who carried the weight of the “war on drugs” and risked it all in pursuit of freedom in the United States. Their structural composition is the result of an almost unconscious, improvised dance. A process that the artist refers to as “walking while painting.” The figures are laid heavy with dark brown and black pigments that visibly absorb light, and are gilded with a reflective gold trim, creating a balance that feels harmonious and befitting. At the center of the gallery’s main space lies a brutalist, three-pronged elmwood bench of mythical giant proportions. A place to put everything down and spend some time with the work. A creation that could only come from the collective minds of Michèle Lamy and Rick Owens. And the perfect place for these two chameleonic masters of material, sound, and ceremony to discuss their work. Read more.

Read Our Interview Of Michele Lamy On The Occasion Of Rick Owens' First Museum Exhibition Of Furniture →

On a cold, rainy night, the day before the private opening, we huddled in the cab of a moving truck to chat about furniture, music and fashion. It may have been a symbolic coincidence that Michele Lamy was in the driver's seat, clutching on to the huge steering wheel, but maybe it wasn't. It's true – going at it alone and organizing a massive exhibition of her husband's furniture line is not a small task. But it’s obvious that she is used to it and loves the process, and Rick is happy to take a back seat. Click here to read more.