The clothes I make are my autobiography. They are the calm elegance I want to get to and the damage I’ve done on the way. They are an expression of tenderness and raging ego. They are an adolescent idealization and its inevitable defeat. Rick Owens Triennale di Milano, 2018 The Rick Owens solo show Subhuman
The Rick Owens solo show Subhuman Inhuman Superhuman, held at the Triennale di Milano 2017/2018, triggered powerful points of reflection in both the aesthetic and conceptual realms of fashion. Here, the word acquired a new meaning, becoming the glue binding diverse contemporary artistic languages – from sculpture to photography, design and music – into a single homogenous current.
The exhibit – a selection of more than one hundred garments, symbolic objects, accessories, graphics, furniture and fashion show videos selected by Owens himself – became a moment to delve into the linguistic semantics of the California creative’s collections from incipit to today. And in the complexity of the themes and styles dealt with, it employed an array of unusual lenses through which one of the most influential visionaries of our time was ultimately revealed.