Rick Owens Explains Why He Punched The Model Who Hijacked His Runway Show


During the Rick Owens menswear runway show in June, now-disgraced model Jera Diarc decided to hold up a political message on a piece of cloth, saying the words ‘KILL ANGELA MERKEL, NOT’. 

The message itself was confusing enough, but nowhere near as weird as what happened next: Rick Owens punching the model straight in the face. 
Owens previously said that the model had “been [his] male muse for the past 12 years or something”, and that the model had obviously just felt comfortable enough to pull the stunt after working together for such a long time. But Owens was absolutely furious, telling WWD that he punched him in anger as the model walked off the runway. 

Owens spoke to Surface Magazine more recently, and explained his violent response:

I was pissed at that moment. I thought, “Hey, this is my spotlight, and you fucked it up.” The whole reason I hit the guy was I knew if I didn’t react very strongly it might get out that this was some stunt that I had planned. Everybody had to know how strongly I disagreed with this. I don’t mind drama, but
I don’t like death threats.


No [I haven’t spoken to Jera, the model], and I won’t. I wonder if he has dementia or something. He’s always been a heavy drinker, and a little erratic, which was adorable. But what he did was just so illogical. He was very accepted here and embraced by a community of people who were very affectionate toward him—a group that now feels more hostility toward him than I do because they feel protective of me. It was really a self-destructive gesture.
Ahhhh… the fashion industry. 

via Surface
Image via Getty

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