Backstage at Raf Simons
Raf Simons returned to Paris with his Autumn Winter 20 collection, delivering another compelling runway show set in a desolate warehouse. The walls, lined with yellow felt were illuminated with a glowing sun which shone back on the models at the end of the long runway. Although the settings were warm the palette of the collection was predominantly muted with blacks, greys, browns and beige against flashes of red, magentas, purples and blues.
In typical Raf fashion, there were no show notes or interviews to expand on the theme that was presented, however with stand-out fur-lined muffs emblazoned with ’Solar Youth’, ‘They Can’t Stop Us All’ and ‘The Future Has Begun’ maybe this was the designers comment on the state of our planet and the younger generations feeling of collective angst against the ruling powers and establishment and desire to flee a scorched earth? Or perhaps a nod to the story that broke last year of the Facebook-driven campaign to storm Area 51? For a designer that has explored youth culture both past and present this could be seen as a hopeful story of life on another planet, soundtracked with ‘Some Velvet Morning’ and finishing to an instrumental version of David Bowie's ‘Life On Mars’ one could certainly feel that way.
Over 25 years Raf Simons has cultivated his own brand language which has had a seismic influence over the menswear scene. For Autumn Winter 20 it felt Raf was returning to his signature mix of rugged-meets-slim silhouettes. The wide-legged shapes of previous seasons have given way to the return of classicly tailored trousers and zipped bottomed kicked flares. All looks were worn with his new ‘Runner’ sneaker-boot hybrid line of footwear, which gave the whole collection a retro-futuristic look straight from 2001: A Space Odessey. The space-age feel was also prevalent in plastic capes with zipped arm holes worn over outwear and sharp lines of other-worldly futurism. An emblematic range of exquisitely tailored oversized coats were worn over signature chunky knits featuring zip details, with Raf’s classic roll-necks as a base.
The glossy science fiction exploration of the collection was balanced by underling it with the warmer feel of furs, shearlings and crochet balaclavas that gave a protective comfort to plastic shrink-wrapped silhouettes. Despite the theatrics, this was another array of desirable, wearable separates from Raf Simons.
Photography Adam Katz Sinding
Words DJ Titchener