The Palais Galliera pays tribute to Rick Owens in a monumental retrospective: "Temple of Love". From Venice Beach to the gilded halls of Paris, this exhibition unveils a radical, mystical and political sartorial language, where clothing becomes an act of faith.
A venue worthy of Rick Owens' aesthetic was needed. A solemn setting, capable of embracing both silence and subversion. The Palais Galliera, Paris's fashion museum, lends itself gracefully to this purpose, hosting the exhibition "Rick Owens, Temple of Love" from June 28, 2025, to January 4, 2026. Conceived as a sculptural and spiritual sanctuary, this retrospective, curated by Owens himself, traces his journey from his beginnings in the California underground scene to his most recent creations, including his iconic Parisian establishment in 2003.
More than 100 silhouettes, personal archives, videos, previously unseen installations, and works by Gustave Moreau, Joseph Beuys, and Steven Parrino accompany this immersion into the world of a creator who became a prophet. Owens imagines a journey that extends beyond the museum galleries: 30 brutalist cement sculptures are placed in the garden, the statues on the facade are draped in fabric embroidered with sequins, and the flowerbeds are redesigned as a tribute to his Californian roots.
Born in Porterville in 1961, Rick Owens began his career as a pattern maker in Los Angeles before launching his label in 1992. He repurposes jerseys, military bags, army blankets, washed leathers, and other materials, transforming them into sculptural dresses and jackets. From the 2000s onward, his gothic, draped, and sharply tailored silhouettes established a style that was as sensual as it was unsettling.
In Paris, he inscribed his work within an architectural and political grammar: models became stepping performers, genders were exposed, and real, unconventional bodies were glorified. Clothing did not conceal; it transformed. It became a manifesto. For Owens, fabric did not clothe; it shaped. Shoulders were monumental, pleats evoked cathedrals. Muted colors prevailed, such as the famous "dust" gray, the designer's signature mineral shade. But here, it was not violence that dominated; it was faith in imperfection, in the power of clothing conceived as interior architecture.
What is striking is the coherence of his work. In a world often overwhelmed by immediacy and marketing, Owens patiently builds an aesthetic of refusal and excess. His work evokes the sacred, heresy, and a self-proclaimed marginality. He follows no trends. He constructs a language. Throughout the exhibition, the presence of Michèle Lamy, his muse and lifelong companion, permeates the space like a benevolent shadow, culminating in the recreation of their Californian bedroom.
By dedicating this unprecedented project to the city, Paris recognizes the significance of someone who was long considered an outsider. Rick Owens doesn't just design clothes. He creates a vision, a form of resistance, a sacred art of textiles. "Temple of Love" is not simply an exhibition: it is a liturgy.
“Rick Owens, Temple of Love”
Galliera Palace
10, avenue Pierre-Ier-of Serbia, Paris 16e
From June 28, 2025 to January 4, 2026
