The American designer Rick Owens is thought for working on the extremes. Obsessive about the darkish and the monolithic, his distinct aesthetic usually sees the physique distorted, turned the other way up, sprouted with prosthetics, or strapped with wadded constructions he calls ‘quilt donuts’. And earlier this summer time he hosted maybe the blockbuster runway present of the yr: his tackle a Hollywood epic, full with a hundreds-strong ‘white satin military of affection’ that marched across the forecourt of the Palais de Tokyo, some hanging from huge scaffolding constructions, amid plumes of smoke.
Revealed right now, on Halloween – a date little doubt famous by vogue’s so-called prince of darkness – Owens explores the thought of ‘extremes’ in his newest collaboration with outerwear behemoth Moncler. Titled by the designer as ‘one other Moncler + Rick Owens dwelling challenge’, it follows a customized bus (designed for touring land artwork installations) and an isolation sleeping chamber (‘it ended up in my home’, says Owens), which each got here full with matching wardrobes to put on in these ‘private environments’. The newest version is a ‘mountain refuge’, created alongside Hugh Broughton Architects, a London-based company recognized for its extreme-condition constructions (they embody the Halley VI British Antarctic Analysis Station on the Brunt Ice Shelf and the redevelopment of the Scott Base in Antarctica).
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of Moncler)
The concept for the challenge got here from a house within the French Alps owned by the household of Owens’ spouse, Michèle Lamy, ‘the Hun’ (‘I name her “the Hun” as a result of she is an exquisite marauder, taking what she desires and leaving wreckage behind her,’ says Owens). Designed by French architect Charlotte Perriand, the Lamy household lodging is right here reworked right into a surreal demountable refuge in stainless-steel, which seems to be to have emerged from the set of a science-fiction film (or, certainly, from the landscapes of outer area). Balanced atop legs which might be adjusted for uneven terrain, the sharp, brutalist design incorporates a collection of dramatic treadplate steps (angled upwards at all sides), whereas the door doubles as a protecting airlock.
Certainly, the refuge shouldn’t be merely for present: totally practical, it incorporates a monocoque shell with 20 thermally insulated panels, photovoltaic roof panels, ground-based photo voltaic arrays and a roof panel, permitting for what Owens calls ‘full vitality autonomy’ (in the meantime on-board battery arrays permit energy to be saved for ‘long-term use in distant areas’). A sustainable water system filters snow, whereas additionally reclaiming waste ‘greywater’. Heating comes from each a log-burning range and electrical heaters. Briefly, it gives every thing you want for shelter in even probably the most excessive of environment.
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of Moncler)
It’s an strategy little doubt impressed by Moncler’s 70-year historical past, which started in Monestier-de-Clermont, a commune within the French Alps. There, founders André Vincent and René Ramillon sought to create a quilted sleeping bag to guard mountaineers in opposition to the weather whereas climbing up the realm’s snowy peaks. Owens’ mountain refuge is the newest evolution of this challenge, which regardless of its high-tech specs stays rooted within the thought of private safety and heat. As such, the inside options Moncler quilt nylon and felted wool blankets ‘a nod to Joseph Beuys, who was my first artwork hero 50 years in the past’.
The accompanying clothes assortment follows the same vein, comprising dramatic quilted jackets and trousers, alongside cotton underlayers which sit flush to the physique. ‘It’s primarily based on tender cotton longjohns layered beneath quilt bodysuits that zip into sleeping cocoons for hibernating in a felt and duvet-lined cave,’ says Owens.
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(Picture credit score: Courtesy of Moncler)
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of Moncler)
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of Moncler)
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of Moncler)
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of Moncler)
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Supply: Wallpaper
