In a fashion climate ruled by luxury-goods

In a fashion climate ruled by luxury-goods conglomerates and an excess of merchandise that is both overwhelming and, increasingly, banal, Owens' less-than-conventional career trajectory – his business turned over more than $50m last year – is an inspiration. He doesn't advertise and his twice-yearly men's and women's collections, both shown in the French capital, are more of a development of his chosen aesthetic than a radical about-turn. While his price-tags rival that of any other designer name, Owens is less than reverent in his treatment of haute materials, actively encouraging the finest cashmere to ladder or silk chiffon to fray. His colour palette is monochrome and all the shades of "shadow" and "dust" in between.

"I try to make clothes the way Lou Reed does music, with minimal chord changes," he has said. "It's about giving everything I make a worn, softened feel. It's about an elegance being tinged with the barbaric, the luxury of not caring."

"I like classicism," he continues today. "I like historic reference. I like something new with something almost ancient. I like [legendary costume designer] Adrian; Hollywood in the Twenties and Thirties. I like discipline and the idea of restraint. I was always anti the whole moving-and-manipulating-the-body-around. It's like telling someone that their body isn't right and needs to be redone. When I make clothes it's about using bias cut, jersey and drape around the body. It has always been important to me that the clothes are somehow affectionate."