Rick Owens monumental at the Palais Galliera
From June 28, 2025, the Palais Galliera pays tribute to one of the most iconoclastic designers on the contemporary fashion scene: Rick Owens. Featuring more than 100 silhouettes, major works of art and monumental installations, the “Temple of Love” exhibition offers a striking plunge into the raw, sensual and spiritual universe of the American designer.
A first retrospective in Paris for the “prince of dark glamour
Known for his sculptural silhouettes, dark hues and committed fashion shows, Rick Owens has never before had a retrospective exhibition in Paris. This will be the case with Temple of Love, an immersive scenography imagined by Owens himself, which will take over not only the museum’s rooms, but also its façade and garden.
From his first prototypes in Los Angeles in the 90s to his latest creations in Paris, the exhibition looks back over three decades of textile experimentation, aesthetic provocation and spiritual quest.
A radical and political aesthetic
Owens, born in California in 1961, draws on the codes of the underground, sacred art and Hollywood cinema of the ’30s to nourish a fashion that is both brutal and poetic. Tinged with black, dusty grays and muted tones, his wardrobe conjures up distressed leather, reclaimed materials and exaggerated volumes. He hijacks military and domestic objects to reinterpret the body.
Based in Paris since 2003, Rick Owens uses clothing as a manifesto: powerful femininity, deconstructed masculinity, a celebration of bodily diversity. He replaces traditional models with stepping performers or exposes the naked bodies of his male models, constantly questioning the norm.
A total staging, between art, fashion and intimate memory
The exhibition is more than just a classical display. Rick Owens orchestrates a veritable museum experience. In the gardens of the Palais Galliera, thirty cement sculptures in brutalist forms, inspired by his furniture, interact with his favorite California flowers. On the facade of the museum, the statues are draped in sequin-embroidered fabric, a sensual, theatrical nod.
Inside, more than 100 silhouettes are accompanied by videos, personal archives, works by Gustave Moreau, Joseph Beuys and Steven Parrino, and even a reconstruction of the bedroom he shared with Michèle Lamy, the designer’s muse and companion.
Rick Owens, Temple of Love: more than an exhibition, a manifesto
With Temple of Love, Rick Owens transforms the Palais Galliera into a sanctuary for difference and aesthetic freedom. This dense, radical exhibition is sure to be one of the cultural highlights of summer 2025 in Paris.
Practical information
📍 Location: Palais Galliera – Paris Fashion Museum
🗓 Dates: June 28, 2025 to January 4, 2026
🕙 Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Nocturne Friday until 9 p.m.)
🎟️ Prices: 14€ full / 12€ reduced – 17€ ticket combined with the collections
👶 Free admission : Under 18s
🌐 Booking: billetterie-parismusees.paris.fr
🚇 Access: Metro line 9 (Iéna, Alma-Marceau) – RER C (Pont de l’Alma)
📖 Catalog: Rick Owens, Temple of Love, Rizzoli Editions – €49
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