I try to make clothes the way Lou Reed does music, with minimal chord changes. It's about giving everything I make a worn, softened feel. It's about an elegance being tinged with the barbaric, the luxury of not caring.
Rick OwensRead
The coolest thing is when you don’t care about being cool anymore. Indifference is the greatest aphrodisiac - that’s what really sums up style for me.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True style comes from a sense of indifference to others' opinions rather than a desire to be perceived as cool.
In this quote, Rick Owens suggests that the essence of style is rooted in the freedom that comes from no longer seeking validation from others. When individuals embrace their uniqueness and disregard the need for approval, they exude a form of confidence that is more attractive and compelling than any effort to appear fashionable or trendy. Indifference to societal expectations allows for authentic self-expression, which Owens views as the ultimate expression of style.
Themes
StyleIndifferenceConfidenceAuthenticitySelf-Expression
In practice
Example use cases
During a fashion panel, discussing how true style emerges from personal freedom rather than adherence to trends.
More from Rick Owens
All quotes →Clothes are status signifiers, and no matter how restrained, they always give you subtle symbols of what your values are.
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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.
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Anybody that creates anything is just creating new compositions of things that have existed before. We're all creating something, we're all creating our own personal works of art in ourselves.
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There is a dark side to the world that we're all familiar with - and you can choose to ignore it and create a sugar-coated, Disney version, or you can acknowledge both the beautiful and the dark.
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Fashion can be about escapism but I have always been interested in the aspirational side of it - wanting to present the self you hope eventually to become.
Rick OwensRead
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