Curtain call

Raf Simons SS15
By Tempe Nakiska | 26 June 2014
Photography Raffaele Cariou

After Raf Simons’ collaboration with Sterling Ruby last season hit popular boiling point one thing was clear: nobody had a clue what to expect next. For where on earth do you turn after opening the curtain on a project nine years in the making? 

Well there was nothing to fret about for with a clean slate comes endless possibility. And anyway, it’s RS we’re talking about.

The silhouettes were classic Simons, arresting in cut with that near cubist nip of over-exaggeration that makes even the most classic outerwear tastily architectural. There was still a whiff of FW14 left behind in the RS/SR patches yet they were reworked anew, accompanied by classic Simons image collages, patchworked across the back of bolero-like jackets. A gasoline blaze, a frenzy of silvery carp, an astronaut and on and on. But it was the personality here that drew a real focus – included was a picture of Simons’ parents, young and in love as well as a passport style headshot of the designer himself, shaggy haired in his youth. 

It was a clever, and somewhat heartfelt whip of the personal accented by a crack of the culturally iconographic. And of course, you’d be hard beat to find an audience member who didn’t leave the place hankering after the majority of the collection.

GALLERYBackstage images from Raf Simons SS15

GALLERYCatwalk images from Raf Simons SS15





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