Rick Owens

>> INSIDER WIRE —Late last month, a group of designers, including Narciso Rodriguez, Maria Cornejo, Jason Wu, and Thakoon Panichgul, took a trip to Washington, DC accompanied by CFDA executive director Steven Kolb to lobby for an anti-piracy bill to stop mass retailers from knocking off their ideas.  But when Rick Owens was recently asked if he cares that his look is being rampantly copied, his reply? "No-oo. I guess it's a compliment." [Guardian]

Oscar de la Renta quelled backlash from his comments about Michelle Obama by appearing on "The View" last night.

Rick Owens opened his first flagship in London and has plans to open a store in Tokyo in September.  

The Converse by John Varvatos women's line is being discontinued, although the footwear and men's lines will remain. 

Rumors that Oliver Theyskens is headed for Halston are being met with rumors that he is poised for Schiaparelli. 

>> Karl Lagerfeld gives us the quotables, Marc Jacobs gives us a little tabloid-style drama, and Rick Owens, who recently stated that "working out is modern couture," is starting to hold his own in the interview arena — there's nothing like a good, strong opinion. 

He recently sat down in his Paris showroom for a ten-minute video interview with Hint, covering everything from what he thinks is "icky" to why we almost didn't have any Rick Owens runway shows.  The highlights:

Though he used to be based in LA, he finds designers there "arrogant and demanding."

LA is great at making sitcoms.  Paris isn't as good as LA is at making sitcoms; every place has their specialty.  And then they do LA Fashion Week, which is incredibly arrogant and demanding.  I mean, these editors have been all over the globe for a couple of weeks [for Fashion Month] and then LA is saying 'Okay, now you have to come here.'  Please, I mean, get off your ass and go to Europe.  I mean, that's what I did and you just have to go where you have to go.  They just don't have the tradition, and they do other things really good, so why do they have to be a fashion capital?  They're the movie capital of the world and they've always been that, can't they just be satisfied with that?

So why Paris over New York?

Excess and being more extreme, Paris is the place to do it.  Not only is it accepted in Paris, it's practically enforced, and I knew that's the kind of designer I wanted to be.  I knew I wasn't going to be Comme des Garcons — I don't think anybody is going to do that anymore — but I knew that I wasn't going to be straight enough for New York.

Doing runway did make him feel like a sell-out. »

>> We hear lots from the Marcs and Karls of the world, but how about a little from cult figure Rick Owens?  He sat down with both Details and Vice Magazine recently for a few choice words about the possibility of advertising or designing for another label, and how he dresses up with a mink coat.  He doesn't hold back, calling himself "a soft sissy" as a kid, and "a selfish c*nt" now.

He makes heart leap-inducing clothes, but he's not a fan of them himself.

I’m not really into clothes. I wear one outfit like a uniform, and I have for years. Black sweatpants, black baggy shorts over them, a black or white cotton t-shirt, and a black cashmere t-shirt over that. I couldn’t imagine having to change outfits every day or having to change for the gym.  This outfit takes me to the gym, to work in the studio, and then to dinner with a mink coat over it.

In fact, he'd rather you work out than buy clothes.

Working out is modern couture. No outfit is going to make you look or feel as good as having a fit body. Buy less clothing and go to the gym instead.

The extreme sensation of working out has replaced the mosh pits of my earlier years and the sex clubs for years after that. It’s a great combo of discipline, joyous release, meditation, and vanity. Music never sounded as good as it does now, pounding through those earbud headphones into the pit of my stomach as I feel my muscles swell.

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