Fashion Fights Cancer - Breast Cancer Awareness Art Auction

Richard Saturnino Owens, better known as Rick Owens, has turned his darkly glamorous, post-apocalyptic take on gothic grunge into a globally-renowned fashion business, built largely around his signature leather jackets. Owens broke into the highest echelons of the industry after French Vogue ran an image of Kate Moss wearing one of his leather jackets. Owens was able to utilize the momentum with assistance from Anna Wintour and American Vogue, and the publication sponsored his first show at New York Fashion Week’s Spring/Summer 2002 season. He also began his longstanding collaboration with stylist Panos Yiapanis in 2001 who, to date, has worked on every single one of Owens’ presentations. In 2002, Owens was appointed artistic director at Revillon, the French fur company that was founded in 1723.

Working and producing in Europe led him to move from Los Angeles to Paris and show during the Paris collections. Owens continued to design for the house until 2007. The designer has been honored by the CFDA twice, first with the Perry Ellis Award for Emerging Talent in 2002 after his debut catwalk show in New York and again in 2017 with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. Other accolades include the Cooper-Hewitt Design Award for Fashion Design and the Fashion Group International's Rule Breaker Award, both of which he was awarded in 2007. Owens has also authored several books, including L'Ai-Je Bien Descendu?, published in 2007, Rick Owens, published in 2011, Rick Owens Furniture, published in 2017 and Legaspi: Larry Legaspi, the 70s, and the Future of Fashion in September 2019. In December 2017, a retrospective exhibition was dedicated to Owens’ work at La Triennale di Milano.