Teen Vogue recently feted Lux, the extremely cool socialist feminist glossy magazine my partner helped start during the pandemic.
“I think all interesting magazines are aspirational," Sharanya says to the interviewer. "In our case, rather than attain a certain lifestyle or luxury goods, we aspire to make a world in which we want to live. As Rick Owens asks, ‘Isn't it more chic to be free?’”
I know next to nothing about fashion and less than nothing about the designer Rick Owens, yet the above delivered an instant and satisfying lol. Probably because of my ignorance, I have for years found it extremely rewarding to dip—without context—into the freaky, beguiling world of fashion’s favorite health goth, and I very much recommend you do too.
Owens is the image non-fashion people call up when they imagine a fashion person: brooding, ghoulish, acid, a workaholic, somehow a minimalist and startlingly extra at the same time. Dig into any of his writing or interviews, though, and you have a lifetime of extraterrestrial little koans (and occasionally a pearl of legitimate wisdom) to wake up the group chat when it gets sleepy.
Novices should start with the ten rules of style Owens offered the now-defunct Details Magazine in 2009. It contains gifts such as:
“I'm not good at subtlety. If you're not going to be discreet and quiet, then just go all the way and have the balls to shave off your eyebrows, bleach your hair, and put on some big bracelets.”
“There's something a little too chatterboxy about color.”
“I hate rings and bracelets on men. I'm not a fan of man bags, or girl bags either—or even sunglasses. I don't like fussy accessories. Isn't it more chic to be free? Every jacket I make has interior pockets big enough to store a book and a sandwich and a passport.”
And: “Hair and shoes say it all. Everything in between is forgivable as long as you keep it simple. Trying to talk with your clothes is passive-aggressive.”
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Move from there to the extensive collection of interviews with him collected on his website, where someone has inexplicably typed each one out in ALL CAPS.
From 10 Magazine, 2021:
“IN HIS TWENTIES, HE LIVED IN AN ABANDONED FACTORY IN LA THAT COULD ONLY BE ENTERED BY CLIMBING THROUGH A HOLE IN THE ROOF. ‘I LOVED IT. IT WAS SO ISOLATED. I COULD PLAY THE STEREO SO LOUD AND JUST WORK THERE. I DON'T THINK I COULD LIVE IN THAT KIND OF ISOLATION NOW, BUT IT WAS GOOD THEN.’ ANOTHER APARTMENT HAD BROKEN WINDOWS AND A PIGEON LIVING IN THE KITCHEN CUPBOARD. HE SLEPT ON A MATTRESS ON THE FLOOR AND, AT NIGHT, WOULD DRAW A CIRCLE OF AJAX AROUND IT TO CREATE A LINE THAT THE COCKROACHES COULDN'T CROSS.”
From Vogue Turkey, 2013:
“WHEN YOU MIX A PHAROAH'S [sic] HAT, SKATEBOARDES [sic] SHORTS, A JULIET GRECO TURTLENECK AND A JOEY RAMONE SHOE IN A MONOTONE SILHOUETTE, YOU'RE THINKING OF YOURSELF ON A LARGER STAGE THAN JUST THE IMMEDIATE PRESENT.”
From Net-a-Porter, 2002:
HOW DO YOU KEEP CALM FIVE MINUTES BEFORE A RUNWAY SHOW?
I SLAM AN ESPRESSO.
From Le Temps, 2007:
YOU OFTEN QUOTE YOUR OWN STYLE AS “DRAMA QUEEN” WHICH USUALLY REFERS MORE TO SEQUINS THAN THE VERY SIMPLE SHAPES AND MATERIALS YOU USE. AREN'T YOU MORE OF A MODERNIST THAN A DRAMA QUEEN?
WHEN I REFER TO A DRAMA QUEEN, I'M REFERRING TO EGOTISTICAL AND HISTRIONIC TEMPERAMENT AS IN AN OPERA DIVA SINGING WITH A SCARF IN ONE HAND AND A KNIFE IN THE OTHER ON A BARE WOODEN STAGE.
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End with any of his reflections on architecture, a medium he’s referred to as a natural extension of clothing, and about which he has a great deal to say. Here he cites as the design inspiration for his austere home in Venice “death, morality, and utopia.” Coincidentally, all my keywords when Craigslisting for apartments.
love,
Alex
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SOON… some words from some readers …… an obscure publication by Japanese streetwear nerds, found …… FINALLY, a great way to eat a pomegranate! …… a Thai artist lectures corpses about death ……