The Cult of Beauty

RickOwensT H E C U LT of B E AU T Y

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B E AU T Y -

A C O M B I N AT I O N O F Q UA L I T I E S , S U C H A S

S H A P E , C O L O R , O R F O R M , T H AT P L E A S E S

T H E A E S T H E T I C S E N S E S , E S P E C I A LY

T H E S I G H T .-

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_THE CULT OF BEAUTYrick owens vision

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B E A U T I F U L

F E M I N I N E

D E L I C A T E

P R E T T Y

A D O R A B L E

A L L U R I N G

A T T R A C T I V E

G R A C E F U L

S T Y L I S H

H A R M O N I O U S


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THERE IS A DIFFERENCEBETWEEN

PRETTY& BEAUTIFULBEAUTY CAN ASTONISH US.INSPIRE US.

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-BEAUTY CAN MAKE YOU DANCE & BEAUTY CAN MAKE YOU CRY.

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To ask what is beauty today is to come face to face with the changing definition of it. Perhaps more than any other time in history, we are preoc-cupied with, even confused by beauty: its power, its pleasures, its style, and its substance. Beauty affects us all, today more than ever.

The beauty we see today is different, more complex. It’s elusive, evolutionary, even controversial. No longer is beauty limited to a pretty face or a pretty picture: beauty has come to personify and reflect the social and cultural issues of our day. As we move forward in time, one of the questions we must ask ourselves is: when will beauty no longer be defined by media promoted and commodified images. Flawless features, flawless figures, without regards to what is underneath? Tdo-day, we want images of beauty to be more realistic and acknowledge the attractiveness of our power, our intel-ligence and our experiences.

The battle to intergrate surface with substance, to as-sert that beauty should be tied to who we are rather than to our body weight or to the firmness of our skin, has changed us forever. In today’s quest for a self cel-ebrating image, we are finally beginning to take more risks, to experiment with our appearance, and not be contstrained by the images we see in magazines and on billboards all around the world.

Ultimately, fashion’s contribution to social change can be seen on the runway in the new beauty. Grunge and deconstructivism were only the beginning; the move-ment away from 80s materialistic ideals of artifice and power dressing, big shoulders, big jewelry, bright makeup, big hair, was taken even further with the waif look. Now, as our culture narrows the gender gap, it is no surprise that androgony is becoming a mainstream ideal, and interest in male beauty is growing. This can be seen on runways now days.

The move to a multicultural nation has given rise to a more inclusive beauty, a beauty that celebrates new faces. The broadening definition also allows for en-tirely new categories, such as “ugly beauty”, the street inspired extreme of the 90s. Today, beauty takes its cur from fashion, and fashion’s new direction is pared down: less contrived, relaxed, and more honest. How-ever we try to define beauty for ourselves, we are still bombarded by media images vying for attention. The best of these images speak not just to our wallets, but to our minds: they demand that we question society’s notions about appearaance, look at our changing visual culture and examine our own attitudes about beauty.

Despite all of this progress however, artifice and cos-metic surgery are on the increase. Glamour is still a priority for many women in our society. Anorexia and body dismorphia are rampant: will the pendulum in fashion ever swing back to an appreciation of real wom-en’s bodies? Often, when people see images of models, instead of feeling appreaciated or inspired, they end up feeling bad about themselves. They feel they can’t mea-sure up to the unatteinable ideals they see: ideals that owe a great deal to makeup artists, perfect lighting and photoshop. This is the cult of beauty.

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THE CULT OF BEAUTY

In this society we have many images of young boys who are deshoveled and yet beautiful. They might be bike messengers, fishermen, construction workers..they don’t have much money, but they don’t need it, because their beauty is not dependent on artifice. Where is the equivalent image for women? If you take a beautiful eighteen year old girl versus a beautiful eighteen year old boy, she will require help to conform to our images of ideal beauty. Women need money for beauty and largely they get it from men who place high value on it.

As fasion continues to break down these barriers or consciously live up to them we see a rise of a new kind of dialog. One that openly talks about these issues and chooses to rebel against them or use them as a form of empowerment. It is no doubt that these steroetypes continue to exist umong our culture, but in the idus-try that is known to have given birth to most of these riduculous standards it is refreshing to witness change both on the catwalk and on the streets.

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THE CULT OF BEAUTY

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BEA

UTY

CAN

CO

NFU

SE

//

It c

an m

ake

us d

ance

. Mak

e us

sad

. Bea

uty

can

be m

agic

al. B

eaut

y ca

n tr

ansf

orm

us.

It le

ts o

ur

soul

sing

, but

it ca

n ha

ve su

ch d

epth

that

you

don

’t ev

en n

otic

e it

at f

irst

, or e

ver.

Bea

uty

can

conf

use.

Alth

ough

ther

e ar

e so

me

gene

rally

acc

epte

d st

anda

rds

of b

eaut

y, th

e co

ncep

t its

sel

f has

al-

way

s be

en th

e su

bjec

t of g

reat

deb

ates

and

con

trad

icti

ons.

T

he s

ame

defi

niti

on fo

r be

auty

ha

s ne

ver

been

em

brac

ed b

y ev

eryo

ne, e

ithe

r be

caus

e of

cul

tura

l di

ffer

ence

s, o

r, ev

en i

n th

e sa

me

cultu

re, b

ecau

se o

f th

e di

ffer

ent

esth

etic

tas

tes

that

peo

ple

have

, and

it

is q

uite

pr

obab

le th

at th

is w

ill n

ever

hap

pen.

It is

ther

efor

e sa

fe to

say

that

it is

a m

atte

r of

per

sona

l pr

efer

ence

s, a

nd th

at b

eaut

y lie

s in

the

eye

of th

e be

hold

er. T

his

is w

hy fa

shio

n ha

s s

uch

a br

oad

rang

e of

sty

les.

Whi

le tr

ends

pla

y an

impo

rtan

t par

t of e

very

sea

son,

des

igne

r’s ta

stes

an

d ph

ilosp

hies

can

var

y va

stly

. Som

e em

brac

ing

the

idea

l for

m o

f bea

uty

and

othe

rs w

ant-

ing

noth

ing

to d

o w

ith

the

conv

enti

onal

val

ues.

The

latt

er c

an b

e di

stur

bing

and

con

side

red

dist

aste

ful t

o m

ost,

but f

or th

ose

who

dar

e to

bre

ak a

way

from

the

norm

and

que

stio

n th

ese

valu

es a

long

wit

h th

e de

sign

er ‘s

vis

ion

it c

an b

e a

tran

sfor

mat

ive

proc

ess.

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Beauty is the eyes of the beholder

Beauty is the eyes of the beholder

What if the beholder was someone dark and uncon-ventional? What if the beholder appreciated the true essence of beauty so much that he wanted to deconstruct every ounce of it? What if the beholder was none other than Rick Owens? ?

Welcome to a world of darkness, a world where ugly is beautiful, a world that seeks to empower through the unconventional use of fabrics, shapes and sil-houettes. A vision that is not for all but a vision that pushes the limits of beauty and welcomes anyone who dares to join. Welcom to the cult of beauty.

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f

c

fugly can bebeautiful

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-Imperfection can sometimes be the most in-teresting thing about people and life, but that which is imperfect is rarely called beauty.

A renegade figure in the fashion world, Rick Ownes became a force for change by melding an emphatically dark sensibility with a penchant for glamour and an un-expected lightness of touch. He placed his distinctive stamp on fashion with a highly theatrical, Goth-inflect-ed silhouette that, despite its apparent toughness and severity, remains supple and eminently wearable.

If you are distinguishing between clothing and high fashion, between the stuff we wear and the ideas that challenge and inspire us, Rick Owens surely belongs on the outermost edge of fashion. His transgender shapes, his almost alien palette, his tough and blithe use of stacked heels for men are unlike anything else. The quintessential style is founded on weathered fab-rics, bias cuts and asymmetric shapes that mold and drape to flatter a variety of body types. His signature biker jacket, made of crinkled leather with high shoul-ders and attenuated sleeves has become the sartorial insignia of debutantes and drag queens, rock stars and legions of would be rebels.

His style has been described as glamour-meets-grunge, but Mr. Owens himself has said of his subtly luxurious designs, “I try to make clothes the way Lou Reed does music, with minimal chord changes, and direct.” The style is sweet but kind of creepy, he said. It’s about giv-ing everything a worn, softened feeling. It’s about an elegance being tinged with a bit of the barbaric, the sloppiness of something dragging and the luxury of re-ally just not caring one bit.

However, don’t let the distressed leather, exposed hard-ware, and black-centric palette fool you: The Ameri-can-born, Paris-based designer is not a one-note goth. On the contrary, he is an avant-garde romantic with a knack for highlighting the beauty of imperfections. It’s a talent well suited to his savagely sophisticated rock couture. Owens’ asymmetrical dresses; long, clingy T-shirts; and embellished outerwear have been seen on hard/soft types like Courtney Love and Madonna, and the designer’s fan club buys up his clothes with a cult like alacrity. Something any designer would love.

It is this passionate following that has crowned him the king of dark fashion. He has summoned a cult of beau-ty unlike any other that can be witnessed on the run-ways of Paris or New york. The style is sweet but kind of creepy, he said. It’s about giving everything a worn, softened feeling. It’s about an elegance being tinged with a bit of the barbaric, the sloppiness of something dragging and the luxury of not caring.

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IN A WORLD WHERE CREEPY

&beautifulCAN CO-EXIST

THERE ARE NOlimits.

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-Meet Rick Owens’ vision

-A renegade figure in the fashion world, Rick Ownes became a force for change by melding an emphati-cally dark sensibility with a penchant for glamour and an unexpected lightness of touch. He placed his distinctive stamp on fashion with a highly theatri-cal, Goth-inflected silhouette that, despite its ap-parent toughness and severity, remains supple and eminently wearable.

If you are distinguishing between clothing and high fashion, between the stuff we wear and the ideas that challenge and inspire us, Rick Owens surely belongs on the outermost edge of fashion. His trans-gender shapes, his almost alien palette, his tough and blithe use of stacked heels for men are unlike anything else. The quintessential style is founded on weathered fabrics, bias cuts and asymmetric shapes that mold and drape to flatter a variety of body types. His signature biker jacket, made of crinkled leather with high shoulders and attenuated sleeves has be-come the sartorial insignia of debutantes and drag queens, rock stars and legions of would be rebels.

His style has been described as glamour-meets-grunge, but Mr. Owens himself has said of his subtly luxurious designs, “I try to make clothes the way Lou Reed does music, with minimal chord changes, and direct.” The style is sweet but kind of creepy, he said. It’s about giving everything a worn, softened feeling. It’s about an elegance being tinged with a bit of the barbaric, the sloppiness of something dragging and the luxury of really just not caring one bit.

However, don’t let the distressed leather, exposed hardware, and black-centric palette fool you: The American-born, Paris-based designer is not a one-note goth. On the contrary, he is an avant-garde romantic with a knack for highlighting the beauty of imperfections. It’s a talent well suited to his sav-agely sophisticated rock couture. Owens’ asymmet-rical dresses; long, clingy T-shirts; and embellished outerwear have been seen on hard/soft types like Courtney Love and Madonna, and the designer’s fan club buys up his clothes with a cult like alacrity. Something any designer would love.

It is this passionate following that has crowned him the king of dark fashion. He has summoned a cult of beauty unlike any other that can be witnessed on the runways of Paris or New york. The style is sweet but kind of creepy, he said. It’s about giving everything a worn, softened feeling. It’s about an elegance being tinged with a bit of the barbaric, the sloppiness of something dragging and the luxury of not caring.

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“That is why he is known as the king of dark fashion.”

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rick

owens

vision -

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tam

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usu

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gent

is in

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lari

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nves

tiga

tion

es d

emon

stra

veru

nt le

ctor

es le

gere

me

lius

quod

ii le

-gu

nt s

aepi

us. C

lari

tas

est e

tiam

pro

cess

us d

ynam

icus

, qui

seq

uitu

r m

utat

ione

m c

onsu

etud

i-um

lect

orum

. Mir

um e

st n

otar

e qu

am li

tter

a go

thic

a, q

uam

nun

c pu

tam

us p

arum

cla

ram

, an

tepo

suer

it li

tter

arum

form

as h

uman

itat

is p

er se

acul

a qu

arta

dec

ima

et q

uint

a de

cim

a. E

o-de

m m

odo

typi

, qui

nun

c no

bis

vide

ntur

par

um c

lari

, fia

nt s

olle

mne

s in

futu

rum

.

//


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Documents

The Cult of Beauty