Rick Owens Sits Down with The New York Times in His Paris Studio

How long have you been in this building?

Twelve years now. When we first moved in, it had drop acoustical tile ceilings with fluorescent lights and carpeting and wallpaper, and we ripped it all out. We did it right before a show period, so we hadn’t had time to seal anything, like the concrete or the walls or anything, so the bottom floors were filthy and everybody, all of the buyers, knew who had been to the Rick Owens showroom in Paris because they would be walking in the streets covered head to foot in dust. Nobody really complained. I think they were delighted a little bit because it was such an extreme experience and they probably felt like they had an adventure. As well as some asbestos poisoning or something.

Was it weird to move from Hollywood Boulevard, where you started your career, to the Seventh Arrondissement in Paris? You are right behind the Assemblée Nationale.

When we first moved to Paris, we lived in the Marais, and there’s just too many parties with all of those kids running around. Here, it’s just embassies and old families. Everybody in this building has some kind of aristocratic name, and I am this nouveau riche American that’s ruining the neighborhood. One of my favorite things is going to sleep at night, and we can hear the footsteps on the gravel of the guards patrolling the garden. It’s just the most delicious sense of security.

Why did you decide to come to Paris?

I was manufacturing in Italy, and going back and forth between Italy and Los Angeles just didn’t make sense, and since I’d started showing in Paris, it made sense to move everything here. It doesn’t really make a difference. There were times that I kind of forget I am not still in Los Angeles, because I kind of create the same triangle here: the couple of restaurants I eat at, my house and office, and the gym. It’s just that now I walk through the Jardin des Tuileries to get to the gym, which is very different than Hollywood Boulevard.

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