Raf Simons

Raf Simons on design, desire and the pace of fashion



Raf Simons Kvadrat

Raf Simons has pivoted to textile design. Kind of. Well, as a practitioner who doesn’t like to pigeonhole himself, that’s one of his focuses at the mo. Caroline Roux profiled him in this Observer story on the work he’s doing for Danish textile company Kvadrat, which was just shown at Milan Design Week. (Sidenote: we love our ‘Kvad-Raf’ cushions!) Here’s his thoughts on the sped-up pace of fashion. (more…)



Lacoste AW19 and examining the ‘halo effect’



Lacoste AW19 Giedre Dukauskaite

The Hermes-ification of Lacoste starts here.

Louise Trotter thwacked the ball clean out of the court (or whatever the correct tennis terminology is – frankly I haven’t a clue) in her Lacoste creative director debut at Paris Fashion Week.

Having come from Joseph, there were shades of her relaxed, gentlewomanly aesethetic, with a sporty twist. My standouts were the superb outerwear, all the leathers, plus the camel and oxblood drawstring bags. (more…)



Menswear aw19 trend report



Prada AW19 menswear

Quite often the menswear shows give a peek into what the womenswear shows will look like. Even more so if you like your womenswear on the non froufrou side. So here’s a primer to myself on the menswear AW19 highlights so far. Valentino, Prada, and Jil Sander had the best knits, Vetements, the most interesting concept, and Dior and Raf Simons the best accessories.

Vetements was really interesting to me. A commentary on the dark web, the hoodie-balaclava hybrids were creepy but also symbolic of people wanting to withdraw into themselves. (more…)



Raf Simons leaves Calvin Klein :(



Raf Simons leaves Calvin Klein

Yes, it’s true. In news that most fashion insiders saw coming, Raf Simons and Calvin Klein are parting ways.

It all started promisingly, with Raf’s arty Americana-themed debut well received by critics back in 2016. High points for me were the American quilts, Warhol collaborations, Western-influenced denim and those off-beat balaclavas. The Kardashians campaign lost me a bit and may well have been the point where Raf realised, maybe he wasn’t cut out for this level of commerciality. (more…)