Raf Simons
Raf Simons
Raf Simonsis a Belgian fashion designer. Beginning in furniture design, he launched his own menswear label in 1995. In April 2012 he was announced as the creative director at Christian Dior. On October 22, 2015 he resigned from Christian Dior...
NationalityBelgian
ProfessionFashion Designer
Date of Birth12 January 1968
CityNeerpelt, Belgium
CountryBelgium
fashion thinking artist
When artists connect to a system because they want to make a living, it's their own choice. In fashion, designers don't have that choice. I know everybody mentions Azzedine Alaïa, but he's been going for a long time in the system - showing to people, selling to clients - and I think it's admirable how he's transformed it into his own system in a way, but it's still a system.
jobs thinking hands
The psychology for the person who's actually doing it is completely different. I think I probably needed to put that [hired-hand] psychology in my own head to be able to do the job. Otherwise it would just be too scary. People outside make it much bigger than me. I'm not saying in my head, "Oh, my god, what an amazing idea!" It scares me if I would do that.
strong thinking hands
My own show with Sterling Ruby, for example, seems like such a huge disconnection from Dior couture, but then I think, yeah, in both collections there was a very strong focus on the human hand and the actual work of people making garments. So in that sense, they were completely related. But I didn't realize that during the process.
thinking way use
I would prefer to use the word free. I think the Dior thing is so much freer. There was not so much free about Jil's way of working.
thinking connections sometimes
You do what you do. Or you do what you have to do. I don't know how to explain it better. I think that in the moment, you can't see connections, but sometimes afterwards you do.
dream fashion thinking
If I see a fashion show with literal influences, it doesn't make me think any more. It doesn't make me dream.
men thinking years
I never really have to sit at a desk thinking, "What should I do now?" It doesn't work like that for me, and it never has. My thinking process is constant. The difference is that once I was in Antwerp only doing two men's shows a year. And the weird thing is I thought I was busy then.
thinking challenges dior
I've always seen myself as a small entity, and it will always stay like that. I'm not changing. But I think the big challenge for me taking on the Dior thing is to see how I can connect that to such a huge institution.
thinking years clothes
When it's only clothes, that is not satisfying enough for me. I don't think I could do this for 10, 20 years if that was all. It also has to be about a psychology or a mentality or a concept.
behaviour combined easily less men
I see there is a lot of behaviour in men's fashion, which is systematic. It's a lot about all these kind of clothes that can be easily combined with each other, and it's less and less, I think, about making a fashion statement.
people
People who don't know me look at my world as something very hard-core, and I don't feel it that way. It's not what attracts me.
city happy wearing
Somewhere, in some city in America, someone is wearing my clothes, and I'm happy with that.
aesthetic difficult favourite future song terms
I fantasise about what the future could be in terms of aesthetic and psychology. It's the most difficult thing to do because you have to start from the past - your favourite architect, your favourite song - you take it all with you.
absorb associated attracted audiences certain image interested respond
I am always attracted to the moments when a person who is associated with a certain message, image or sensibility evolves. I am very interested in how audiences respond to that maturation and absorb the evolution.