To coincide with the major exhibition "Rick Owens, Temple of Love", which runs until January 4, 2026 at the Palais Galliera, we look back at the films that most influenced the couturier's work.
Born in California, the land of Hollywood, Rick Owens, who studied at the Otis College of Art and Design (then called Otis-Parsons) in Los Angeles, was bound to be influenced by films. Although his work is often described as atypical, he shares with other designers a passion for classic Hollywood cinema, particularly the flamboyant dramas of Douglas Sirk. But beyond the vast repertoire of this golden age of American cinema, the designer, who cites Joan Crawford and Bette Davis among his favorite actresses, has an even stronger taste for those film noirs bordering on the grotesque, shot in the small studios' hangars for limited screenings. double feature Late at night, in cheap cinemas. The cursed and overflowing offspring of an overconfident industry, a few years before its fall and the emergence of New Hollywood which would overturn established codes.
However, the avant-garde, independent cinema that developed in the United States alongside the end of the studio system's reign was also central to Owens's inspirations. First and foremost, the incredible Scorpio Rising Kenneth Anger's (1963) and its simultaneously homoerotic and terribly dark and violent imagery, from the gritty rock'n'roll of leather jackets to bikers enamored with freedom and with a taste for risk, also celebrated a few years later by Easy RiderWhen we recall the provocative, almost punkish fashion shows presented by Rick Owens, we understand that the impact of this cinema of the margins goes beyond mere aesthetic considerations (which are nonetheless very much present). There is also a thematic and ideological legacy, a lineage to which Owens belongs. Similarly, among the designer's influences, we obviously find Andy Warhol, whose relationships with his "superstars" in the Factory works closely resemble those the designer maintains with his favorite top models and mannequins. Add to this the decadent atmospheres, over the top, deliberately artificial and crude, so dear to Warhol (but also, a few years later, to John Waters), we find a direct lineage between theunderground New Yorkers and the work of Rick Owens.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the queer, baroque and often cruel universe of some of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's films – in particular his final feature film Querelle (1982), according to Jean Genet – is also a definite influence on the stylist's work. As are also the yellow by the Italian master Dario Argento, like Suspiria (1977) and its dark colors, its occult aura, and its stylized violence. Of course, like any good nihilistic and pessimistic romantic, Rick Owens, who was a longtime addict, doesn't disown Pasolini either, and readily cites him among the films that have influenced him. Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975), its cold beauty and cruelty imbued with a chilling ceremonial.
Obviously, as with any artist, Rick Owens' influences are eclectic, and we also find the gentler, more joyful madness of Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) – an homage to classic Hollywood B-movie fantasy films – or the gothic and theatrical aesthetic of films from the universe Universal Monsters, including the little-known The Chat noir Edgar G. Ulmer's (1934) with Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi. Two films that the Palais Galliera screened as part of the exhibition "Rick Owens, Temple of Love" (which also included the documentary Queendom by Agniia Galdanova, who revisits the work of the young Russian drag performer Jenna Marvin, whose work profoundly influenced Owens. A provocative creator, Rick Owens has sometimes cited more surprising influences, from the films of Leni Riefenstahl to the biblical works of Cecil B. DeMille. But ultimately, it is baroque and strange cinema that most resonates with his style. A cinema that ranges from David Lynch to John Waters, by way of certain scenes from Seventh Seal by Bergman. Deliberately unsettling films that invite us to question the spectacle of the soul's torments.
“Rick Owens, Temple of Love”
Galliera Palace
10, avenue Pierre-1er-of-Serbia, Paris 16e
Until January 4, 2026
