Rick Owens SS20 on the left, Salvia on the right. Via @salvjiia
Rick Owens sent down a stunning futuristic show on Thursday, borrowing heavily from the aesthetic of teen Instagram sensation @salvjiia—who collaborated with the Californian designer on his AW19 collection—but the creator has taken to social media to clear the air. According to Salvia, she was not consulted or paid for her likeness in the SS20 show and the designer is “stealing” her aesthetic.
“He has endless privileges and resources, I do not,” Salvia said in an Instagram post on Sunday. “I’m not a millionaire with a team of people behind me, im a 19 year old trans girl from cyffylliog, Rick Owens is not punk, not progressive, not futuristic, he is selfish and mediocre.” She goes on to say that her collaboration in February was limited to one prosthetic design and one makeup design, but that she has since noticed her hair, makeup and nail looks appearing in Rick Owens shoots. “The collaboration was not permission to use me as a muse forever,” she adds.
The designer cited his mother’s Mexican heritage for the inspiration behind his collection, which featured futuristic Aztec headdresses, but many of the models looked a lot like the 19-year-old influencer with hairlines starting at the back of the head and no eyebrows. Still, Salvia is not the only person on Instagram using prosthetics and unconventional wigs— for example, Canadian influencer duo Fecal Matter also have a similar, otherworldly aesthetic. The question is whether or not the look has proliferated enough to become public domain? While other designers like Manish Arora also used signature beauty concepts from famous Instagram artists for their show, they included them in the runway.