Rick Owens: Temple of Love

Artist: Rick Owens
Curator: Miren Arzalluz

The Palais Galliera presents Paris’s first exhibition dedicated to Rick Owens, tracing his career from his beginnings in Los Angeles to his most recent collections. Fascinated by ritual and eclectic references, Owens draws inspiration from Joris-Karl Huysmans, modern and contemporary art, early Hollywood cinema and underground culture. The designer himself assumes the role of artistic director, collaborating with the Palais Galliera team to extend the exhibition into the museum’s façade and garden.

Owens, born in California in 1961, launched his label in 1992 after working as a pattern-cutter. From the outset, his work combined underground influences with the glamour of 1930s fashion. Limited resources led him to repurpose military bags, blankets and washed leather into refined garments. Black and muted shades dominate his palette, particularly the “dust” grey that has become a signature.

Since moving to Paris in 2003, Owens has staged provocative shows that challenge discrimination and male dominance, often emphasising the power of women. Performances with step dancers in place of models, exposed bodies and sculptural silhouettes highlight both social critique and aesthetic force. More recently, bold colours and monumental shapes articulate his response to global crises.

The exhibition showcases over one hundred silhouettes, alongside personal documents, videos and installations. Works by Gustave Moreau, Joseph Beuys and Steven Parrino contextualise his inspirations, while the presence of Michèle Lamy, his partner and muse, permeates the display, including a reconstruction of their Californian bedroom. Outside the museum, Owens has wrapped statues in sequined fabric and filled the garden with brutalist-style cement sculptures and Californian plants, echoing his furniture design practice.

“Rick Owens, Temple of Love” is unprecedented in scope, transforming the Palais Galliera into a meditation on love, beauty and diversity, and into a temple dedicated to creation.