RICK OWENS TAKES PARIS: TEMPLE OF LOVE
The shadow prince of fashion, Rick Owens, is making a colossal mark on Paris once again—but this time, it’s not just the runway he’s redefining, it’s the museum space itself. Starting June 28, 2025, the Palais Galliera unveils its most audacious retrospective yet: “Rick Owens: Temple of Love.”
This is no traditional costume display. Curated by Miren Arzalluz and Alexandre Samson, with Owens himself as artistic director, the exhibition is a full-sensory journey through Owens’s radical design universe—where glamour meets grit, and fashion becomes a spiritual calling.
From L.A. Underground to Parisian Deity
Born in California in 1961, Owens cut his teeth repurposing military surplus into avant-garde silhouettes, eventually launching his eponymous label in 1992. His work smolders with dark elegance—his palette often reduced to blacks, charcoals, and his signature "dust" grey—but it is anything but minimal. Think: brutalist tailoring, sacred geometry, and the kind of drapery that could raise the dead.
After relocating to Paris in 2003, Owens became not just a designer, but a movement. His shows blurred the line between performance art and protest—whether it was featuring a step team of powerful Black women or turning the male gaze literally inside out by exposing male models in full-frontal defiance.
The Exhibition: A Monument to Love and Resistance
Spanning over 100 silhouettes, never-before-seen installations, and personal relics, Temple of Love is a living archive of Owens’s evolution—from the back alleys of L.A. to fashion’s highest altar.
But Owens didn’t stop at the gallery walls. He’s draped the museum’s facade in sequined fabric, cloaked its classical statues in shimmering rebellion, and installed 30 brutalist concrete sculptures in the garden—each one a love letter to his obsession with stark materiality. California vines twist through the outdoor installations, making the entire Galliera grounds a landscape of otherworldly devotion.
Inside, the exhibit draws connections between Owens and icons like Gustave Moreau, Joseph Beuys, and Steven Parrino, mapping out a constellation of influences that range from Catholic mysticism to punk nihilism. One room even recreates the intimate California bedroom he shared with his wife and muse, Michèle Lamy, whose presence is woven through the entire experience like a ritual incantation.
Not Just a Retrospective—A Revelation
More than a fashion retrospective, Temple of Love is a provocation. It’s a testament to Owens’s lifelong war against conventional beauty, masculinity, and systemic oppression. It’s a reminder that clothes can be armor, performance, relic, and revolution—all at once.
And in a time when fashion often feels flat and algorithm-driven, Rick Owens offers a vision that is deeply human, fiercely political, and unapologetically romantic.
Whether you’re a disciple of darkness or just discovering Owens for the first time, this is a pilgrimage worth taking.
Exhibition Runs: June 28, 2025 – January 4, 2026
Location: Palais Galliera, 10 Avenue Pierre 1er de Serbie, 75116 Paris
Tickets: €14 (standard), €12 (reduced)
Catalogue: Rick Owens: Temple Of Love – Rizzoli Editions, €49
More info at: www.palaisgalliera.paris.fr