Purple Institute
[March 2 2015]
Read our exclusive interview with Rick Owens and Shayne Oliver in Purple Fashion #23
olivier zahm — What is a death drop?
rick owens — It’s where you kind of turn around and then fall backward and land with one leg up and the other one back, and then you pick yourself back up. But the thing is, you actually have to take a leap of faith and fall into it. I can’t do it.
shayne oliver — You know, it’s like practicing a new muscle. It’s going to hurt.
rick owens — Because it’s the leg-underneath-you thing.
shayne oliver — Yeah, it hurts for the first, like, two weeks, and then you’re okay; then you can do anything.
rick owens — Okay, imagine a 52-year-old man in a hotel room, watching… s
Shayne oliver — Did you try it already?
rick owens — For like a week, I was working on it! And I was thinking, I’m fit, I can do this. I’m not afraid of a little pain, and I had Feminine Destruction on YouTube. She does it really great, so I was like, “I can just do it really slow, break it down, and figure it out, right?” And I just couldn’t do it, because there was this point where there’s no logic to it; you just have to throw yourself into it and hope for the best.
shayne oliver — You actually have to injure yourself.
rick owens — And they’re chunky, these girls, some of them. And the bravery of it, it’s an adrenaline thing. It’s like throwing yourself off a cliff and your hair flips up, and then you jump back up. And the jumping back up, I don’t know how they do that. Show us how you do it.
shayne oliver — Do you want to see one? Should I do it here?
olivier zahm — Don’t kill yourself!
shayne oliver — I do it all the time. So, hold on. [Performs a death drop]
rick owens — Oh! Isn’t that gorgeous? I think that’s the invention of the century! That is the invention of our generation. I hope I didn’t push you into that!
shayne oliver — Oh no, trust me, I do that five times in a row. But you see, it’s easy after you break.
Read more in Purple Fashion magazine #23. Click here to buy
