‘I’m surprised that I got this far’: Rick Owens on his bombastic Paris retrospective, ‘Temple of Love’

‘Rick Owens, Temple Of Love’ at Paris’ Palais Galliera is no typical retrospective. A meditation on a singular career, it spans the iconoclastic designer’s Los Angeles beginnings on Hollywood Boulevard to the present day, featuring over 100 of his silhouettes, which often defy categorisation but are entirely his own.

Spilling over to the exterior, monolithic statues on Palais Galliera’s façade are draped in sequinned fabric. The garden is studded with 30 brutalist-style cement sculptures referencing his furniture creation, and, for the duration of the retrospective, Rick Owens has had the garden landscaped with all-blue flowers, including his Californian favourites, Morning Glories.

Previewing after his S/S 2026 runway show at Palais de Tokyo this evening (26 June) – just across the road – at the exhibition’s heart is the idea of love. ‘I felt that love is the best word to put out there,’ he says. ‘Maybe it’ll help manifest something.’

Rick Owens takes over Palais Galliera with a subversive, multi-media survey of his life’s work

Wallpaper*: This is your second retrospective, the first, ‘Subhuman Inhuman Superhuman’, was at La Triennale di Milano in 2017.

Rick Owens: At the time, it was wonderful to be accepted by a cultural institution at the top of its game. While I was doing it, I thought, ‘Wow, this is amazing! Nobody gets to write their own obituary this way.’ But I only did it because I was allowed to be in complete control; I didn’t want anybody interpreting me.

W*: Two retrospectives in eight years is a lot of introspection. How are they different?

RO: That Milan show was where I used the phrase ‘I would lay a black glittering turd on the white landscape of conformity’ and it was very that. So I thought, if I ever do another show, I would do a softer one that focuses more on the beginnings, the craft side. The urgency to control wasn't as intense. It’s more humble and more raw, there's a lot more focus on the LA studio experience.

Michèle [Lamy, Owens’ wife] kept telling me, ‘You gotta stop calling it a retrospective!’ She doesn't like the finality – I'm leaning into it! A retrospective implies a decline, it makes you think about legacy and mortality and ageing, and how long do you stay relevant, and how important is that? I don't have the answers to any of those things, but I am thinking about them and addressing them publicly.

W*: Why the theme of love?

RO: I felt that love is the best word to put out there. Maybe it'll help manifest something. People get the impression that I am this dystopian disruptor, and that I am aggressive, but my motivation has always been to be a contrast to the condemning judgment that I experienced in my youth, and that I have declared war on. There have always been creators like me who are cheerfully depraved, and that is my response to all who felt contempt or oppression, and I'm putting the opposite of that out there in my own little way.

W*: You’ve been called The Dark Prince of Fashion, the Prophet of the Apocalypse… yet, you accept people with loving kindness, it feels contradictory.

RO: It's lovely to be called the Prince of Darkness – I love a sinister edge. This is a tool that people have used to address the discomfort of fear or powerlessness. I’m just a fun part of a subset of aesthetics that has existed forever. And that has been one of my motivating urges, to propose an alternative to the prevailing cultural aesthetics that can seem very narrow and a little bit cruel. I propose options that stretch that a little bit. That's why I have probably been referred to as a dark designer, because I try to address everything.

W*: Is there any provocation in this gentle, loving retrospective?

RO: A little bit! Condemning judgment is always accompanied by prissiness and squeamishness, I roll my eyes at this. I like very simple provocation, with genuine innocence, and I think it's cheerful. And if somebody's clutching their pearls, let them clutch! When there can be such cruel forces in the world, a little bit of giddiness is not the worst thing. This show is bombastic because I just can't help it.

W*: You live between Paris, Venice and LA. Has Paris become home?

RO: I love Paris. Italy is where I have the quiet to create, with a lot of support; Paris is where I’m judged. I like that. I have to rise to the occasion in Paris. Recently, I realised I've been here for 20 years, this is where I feel the most secure, and I said, ‘OK, so I’m going to get old in Paris!’

I love what I’m doing, I’ve reached this great level, and I have a very nice rhythm in my life – I work a lot, which I love, and I take a nap every day to give my brain a break, and I work out for an hour every evening. It is amazing to have a wonderful sense of purpose.

Then I thought: ‘What, at 63 years old, is the most satisfying thing that I could be doing with my life?’ and that was when we started talking about the retrospective.

W*: Working out is working out for you, you look fantastic.

RO: It’s just about trying to do the best with what you’ve got. Working out is modern couture! No outfit is going to make you look as good as you will feel with a good body. So buy less clothes and go work out. It’ll satisfy your vanity in a way that clothes just can’t.

W*: How was working with the Palais Galliera?

RO: I went to so many exquisite shows at the Galliera; how they put things together was so admirable, so precise, so beautifully documented, I was more open to suggestion here, because I want to see their perspective. So I've been working with head of collections Alexandre Samson – I’m a huge fan of his. Focusing on the studio experience when we started was Alexandre’s idea. It wasn’t easy, I have so few archives from back then. We didn’t think about archives, we thought about survival – ‘let’s sell anything we can!’

W*: That was in pre-digital 1994, you were working with sketches and swatches?

RO: Yeah, we had to search for stuff, and Alexandre’s like a detective, he unearthed amazing things.

W*: You recreated your Hollywood Boulevard bedroom with army surplus felt walls, complete with the bed you and Michèle slept in. Why?

RO: The bedroom is probably the kernel of our furniture collection because it was the first ever bed we built for ourselves, and it was very representative of our furniture and of that time. I thought it was a nice sentimental, nostalgic thing to include.

W*: Are you fascinated by last season’s fashion musical chairs, Jonathan [Anderson] and Matthieu [Blazy] and Pierpaolo [Piccioli] and Demna?

RO: Isn’t it crazy? There is an artificial desperation to it all. I don't mean to gloat, but in a weird way, it just kind of solidifies my position; it allows me to be more me.

W*: Will you always remain independent?

RO: I don't mind that we’re a small group that doesn't have the resources of major groups, it makes you more inventive. I like that puzzle, having a certain amount of time, a certain amount of resources – how do you make it into something compelling?

And when you look at a Picasso, you're thinking, yeah, it can be done. I’m not comparing what I do to Picasso, but I'm saying that it is a great lesson of restraint and power from reduced materials and reduced elements.

W*: I feel like fashion hasn’t replaced art, but it’s kind of up there.

RO: I take fashion very seriously. Clothes are powerful tools of communication, and we were put on Earth to communicate. In fashion, you have to speak to your audience, who feels some kind of integrity, some kind of personality, some kind of truth, four times a year, year after year, with a compelling, relevant message, to maintain this connection. I don't know if I see that in art.

W*: Will you ever stop?

RO: Never. I wouldn't know what to do with myself! I would be lost without it. It’s the scaffolding of my life. I have found a way to connect with the world around me. I’ve sent out a message and received a positive response. What could be more profoundly satisfying than that? I know that I'm so lucky. It’s a miracle. I'm completely surprised that I got this far.

‘Rick Owens, Temple of Love’ runs at the Palais Galliera, Paris, from 28 June 2025 – 4 January 2026.

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