Southern Californian Rick Owens began designing after a two-year stint in pattern cutting school in Los Angeles, where he founded his namesake line in 1994 and remained largely under the radar, with a small but dedicated following in the underground glam rock and grunge communities who prized his slim-fitting leather jackets and destroyed jersey knits. The fashion industry eventually took note of his ability to marry a gothic, distressed sensibility with couturelike sophistication, and in 2001 Owens moved production of his line to Italy and relocated to Paris. With his partner Michèle Lamy, he conceives of collections that marry Classical influences to Brutalist design and an ascetic tribalism.