Rick Owens is a Paris-based American fashion designer whose gothic influences, avant-garde constructions and experimental techniques have earned him cult-like status in both street and high-fashion scenes. After dropping out of art school in the early nineties, Owens began designing his eponymous line in California but left in 2003 with partner Michèle Lamy to relocate to Paris. Owens’ boundary-pushing designs, shown at Paris Fashion Week four times a year, feature innovative uses of silhouette, fabric and proportion. His signature styles range from leather biker jackets (debuted in 2002 by none other than Kate Moss) to billowing trousers and more recently, high-top and lug-sole footwear. Alongside his ready-to-wear collections, the designer has launched several diffusion lines, including DRKSHDW, Lilies and HUNRICKOWENS.