Designer Rick Owens bypasses L.A. for TriBeCa

With designer shops multiplying like hares on Melrose Boulevard, it's sad to note that hometown hero and Parisian expat designer Rick Owens will open his first U.S. boutique in New York. The Cut blog reports that the TriBeCa store will open on July 14, and it even has some prelim shots of the temple -- replete with a fog machine and his new furniture collection.

You may recall that Owens once roosted across the street from Les Deux -- he and Michelle Lamy are romantic partners -- in a concrete atelier. (A friend brought me there in the late '90s and we fingered his draped creations, as fluid and breathtaking as wearable glaciers.)

Owens told Hint mag about his L.A. days:

I was operating on a real fringe back then. In those days, I was a part of the wicked Hollywood Boulevard hustler bar world. I hung around people like Goddess Bunny, a dwarf friend of mine, and Mr. Beanbag in super sleazy, crystal, tranny hustler bars just off Hollywood Boulevard, a couple of blocks from my studio. It fit into my aesthetic of broken idealism.

If you can't make it to TriBeCa next week and crave an Owens of your own, hit Net-a-porter.com and pick up this exquisitely cut cowl-neck top from his "Lilies" collection on sale for $172.50, regularly $230. Trust me. You will always collect compliments in a Rick Owens piece. His creations are so artful that they make you feel like Peggy Guggenheim.

Oh, and perhaps you'll meet Mr. Beanbag too.

Photos: Pierre Andrieu / Getty Images; Net-a-porter.com