In celebration of his S/S15 womenswear show, Rick Owens sits down to answer Jefferson Hack's version of the Proust Questionnaire
The cult of Rick Owens is twenty years old this month, a celebratory moment that has been played out across fashion week in parties, events and limited edition products, culminating yesterday in his highly anticipated S/S15 show. The emotive collection of architectural tulle panelling followed the same inspirational path as the S/S15 menswear show, influenced by the explicit Diaghilev tale, L'Après-Midi d'un Faune (Afternoon of a Faun). Owens created his own cast of primal nymphs with a colour palette reminiscent of Leon Baskt, who designed costumes for the original ballet in 1912. Ethereal models chalked in white paint wore shorts in hand-waxed poplin, sliced and frilled, with panelled tube tops and sleeveless smocked dresses. In celebration of the show, Owens sat down with AnOther to answer Jefferson Hack's unique version of the Proust questionnaire.
What are you thinking of right now?
Refinement.
What makes you laugh?
Absurdity.
What makes you cry?
Lost opportunities.
What do you consider to be the greatest invention?
There are too many to choose — the wheel, masturbation, tacos, the internet.
Do you have a mentor or inspirational figure that has guided or influenced you?
Legion.
Where do you feel most at home?
At the beach — any beach.
Where are you right now?
My office in Paris prepping my spring show.
What is your proudest achievement in work?
Survival.
What is your proudest achievement in life?
Self-invention.
What do you most dislike about contemporary culture?
Casual hostility.
What do you most like about the age we live in?
The internet.
At what points do life and work intersect?
Everybody has a different way, but for me they are pretty much the same. If I hadn't found something to do, I would have been a crack whore.
What’s the best advice you’ve been given?
Get over yourself.
What is the biggest risk you’ve ever taken?
Trusting myself.
Recommend a book or poem that has changed your perspective on life?
Reading The Death of Tintagiles by Maeterlinck when I was a child might have inspired a melancholy minimalism that I have used.
What is your earliest childhood memory?
A neighbour showing me a handmade box covered in rhinestones. I must have been about three.
What’s the most important relationship in your life?
My better half, Hun.
What’s the most romantic action you’ve taken?
Getting married.
What’s the most spiritual action you’ve taken?
Going to the gym.
If you could wish for one change in the world what would it be?
I don't profess to know better — it is all an evolutionary miracle that seems to balance out despite collapse and glory.
Text by Mhairi Graham
