The Man Behind the Brand

  • Raf Simons, The Man Behind the Brand

    In the grand scheme of fashion, relatively few designers form connections in their respective eras so deeply that they not only captivate their audience in the moment, but also create garments and themes that simultaneously transition seamlessly into the future landscape of fashion. There are the classic masters, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Hubert de Givenchy, Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, and Jeanne Lanvin, who certainly need no introduction nor do they require an explanation as to why they reside in the position of fashion’s most elite.

    There are also relatively newer names that are pushing the industry forward. Azzedine Alaïa, for instance, is a master at flattering the female form, stemming from his deep understanding of a woman’s anatomy and of her essence. Hussein Chalayan is one of the industry’s most cerebral designers, fashion’s arch avant-gardist, having shown designs including dresses containing moving airplane parts, a robot dress constructed with Swarovski crystals, LED pixelated dresses, and Tyvek garments that resembled furniture and could be folded down to envelope size. The late Alexander McQueen with his bumsters, his frocks made almost entirely of fresh flowers and his armadillo shoes, and his otherworldly runway shows, elevated fashion with his fevered creativity.

    Miuccia Prada, John Galliano, Jean Paul Gaultier, Rei Kawakubo, Karl Lagerfeld, and Alber Elbaz are a few of the other names that are commonly referenced when looking to the individuals who are responsible for breaking new ground in the modern era of fashion. These are the individuals who have moved mountains, so to speak, and in many cases, continue to do so.

    Raf Simons can also move mountains. He would surely argue that he cannot; he is modest despite his immense success. However, if we take a studied look throughout the fashion industry, how many designers are actually in his league? Not many.

    One of the most obvious points at which to begin an examination of the career of Raf Simons thus far surely would be at Christian Dior, the design house where he took the reigns in 2012. Simons created the house’s Fall 2012 haute couture collection - his first ever - in eight weeks. That collection was his debut for the storied Parisian house, and it was surely the antithesis of a soft opening. As the New York Times’ Suzy Menkes wrote: “A lot was riding on the show, even the future of Dior’s haute couture, which had sagged since the abrupt departure of John Galliano in spring 2011.”

    Prior to the show, Emmanuelle Alt, editor in chief of French Vogue, said: “I haven’t been this excited to see a show in a long time.” Her American counterpart, Anna Wintour, an individual known for her icy exterior, smiled during the show. Dior referred to the garments not as a collection but “a manifesto.” Style.com’s Tim Blanks described the scene: “Hysteria,” which certainly sounds far more fitting for a Beatles concert circa 1963 than a Parisian Haute Couture show.

    The collection was welcomed not only by the fashion press, but was similarly praised by Simons’ peers and his superiors. Alber Elbaz, the creative director of Lanvin, for instance, was quite taken by Simons’s A/W 2012 couture collection, saying: "[It was] absolutely poetic. It was perfection. Today was a beautiful marriage between a designer and a house." Marc Jacobs, who was still serving as the creative director of Louis Vuitton at the time, called the collection “absolutely magnificent.” Famed couturier Pierre Cardin told Vogue: “It was very emotional,” admiring the fraîcheur of Simons’s approach and his decision to embark upon his tenure with a collection founded upon a “classic base,” in particular, Christian Dior's New Look, the revolutionary silhouette that put the spotlight on the female form over six decades ago. Following the show, LVMH Chairman Bernard Arnault told the New York Times’ Cathy Horyn: “I think he was the perfect choice.”

    That was Simons’s highly anticipated commencement at Dior, his moment on the highest of mountains. However, if we liken Simons to a mountain climber, then we know that he did not begin at the top. In fact, Simons, who was known throughout much of his career to date primarily for his menswear creations (he had not formally designed womenswear upon his appointment at Jil Sander in 2005), began as a fashion outsider, and his journey is equally as intriguing as his destination.

    Photo: cream bridesmaid dresses

    Not an institutionally trained fashion designer, Simons, who hails from Neerpelt, a rural town near the Dutch and German borders, studied industrial design at a small university in Ghenk. In 1991, he began an internship with fellow Belgian, Walter Van Beirendonck, one of the Antwerp Six, the famed collective of designers that helped position the quiet city on the map as an emerging fashion capital. It was Van Beirendonck who accompanied Simons to his first-ever runway show, Martin Margiela’s S/S 1991 all-white show – an experience that played a significant role in Simons’s transition from industrial design to fashion, as he has stated time and again. Simons frequently indicates that music also plays a meaningful role in his life and career.

    In a town as small as Neerpelt, which is, at least in part, a farming town, art and music were the only mechanisms for Simons to keep up with the world at large. He followed the work of Belgian art curator Jan Hoet and listened to bands like Kraftwerk, The Virgin Prunes, The Cramps, New Order, Joy Division, and Sonic Youth, amongst others, and studied album-cover art, particularly that of Peter Saville. These references are rampant in Simons’s work. His Fall/Winter 1998 Radioactivity collection comes to mind instantly.

    For the collection, which was dominated by skinny tailoring (think: narrowly-cut shoulders and lapels paired with slightly baggy trousers), Simons derived his inspiration from Kraftwerk, Laurie Anderson, Vanessa Beecroft, the 1980's New Wave movement, and punk. Thereafter, Simons’s Fall/Winter 2003 collection, entitled Closer, also falls into this camp, as it was infused with works from Saville’s archives. Most recently, his Spring/Summer 2015 collection, which consists of uniform-inspired garments adorned by collages that are deeply personal to Simons, included illustrations that read “NO,” certainly a New Order reference.

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