The Raf Simons watch / towel / keychain / fail

[homi]

the real question in my mind is who is he designing for now? I don't see how it would appeal to anyone. I guess the brand will sell on his name alone but not for any of the pieces posted here (i hope)

[Catfood]

I would think part of it is that he is getting older. Perhaps he feels that the youth culture connection that he used to have isn't there anymore in any real sense. midlife crisis possibly?

I wouldn't disregard him completely, I think some of his recent Jil collections have been very good. Especially the womenswear. Although you could also ask how much of the designing he does there and how much is left to the assistants.

[Faust]

I would think part of it is that he is getting older. Perhaps he feels that the youth culture connection that he used to have isn't there anymore in any real sense. midlife crisis possibly?

I wouldn't disregard him completely, I think some of his recent Jil collections have been very good. Especially the womenswear. Although you could also ask how much of the designing he does there and how much is left to the assistants.

LOL. Believe it or not, I have thought about it along these lines. And in the end I came to the conclusion that there are those who have a certain emotional and philosophical backbone and there are those who do not. We usually develop that backbone in our formative years, and that's where youth culture comes in. And then you grow out of the youth culture (sometimes), but the backbone stays and you derive same emotions from other sources and reflect it in your work. I am thinking of Ann here. She derives the same emotions from punk rock and classical music, from Patti Smith's lyrics and from William Blake's poetry. The point is, her character is there, and culture is there to feed it. And then there are those for whom the whole youth culture is just a phase before they get it out of their system and don a Raf Simons suit.

[Fade to Black]

LOL. Believe it or not, I have thought about it along these lines. And in the end I came to the conclusion that there are those who have a certain emotional and philosophical backbone and there are those who do not. We usually develop that backbone in our formative years, and that's where youth culture comes in. And then you grow out of the youth culture (sometimes), but the backbone stays and you derive same emotions from other sources and reflect it in your work. I am thinking of Ann here. She derives the same emotions from punk rock and classical music, from Patti Smith's lyrics and from William Blake's poetry. The point is, her character is there, and culture is there to feed it. And then there are those for whom the whole youth culture is just a phase before they get it out of their system and don a Raf Simons suit.

Great post.

[Faust]

Saw a first Raf Simons ad in a magazine. Don't remember which one.

[jost]

though he said he doesn't want to design for youths anymore, he still does it, more so than ever. just look at the kanye-ness of those sneakers. my guess is he looked at hypebeast and took this as the recent cool and hip thing amongst youth. fearing that he has lost his touch with youth culture, he simply does a copy of this awful aesthetic. but poor Raf now noticed he might not be cool anymore, as he didn't figure out that trend himself. so he wants to play safe and also apply to the "mature" audience, just in case his obvious trend-whoring for the youth goes wrong. enter the versace pieces.
actually this neat buisness plan might even work out, as the old guys of that style are maybe considered a little yesterday by people in their 30ies, yet some of them might want to buy this stuff. now with Raf and his far better image coming in, they might as well buy his stuff instead.

On a sidenote: KvA does a way better job than Raf at the moment. Leave aside the ridiculous bloopers KvA does every season, he got pretty decent collections to say at least. Raf however is completely inconsistent and struggling to find a new style, worse than KvA ever was at DH. And even considering things like those stupid tanks KvA did, they are still "better" than those Raf Asiscs.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250527909434&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Wonder who cops...

[Faust]

Wow, comparing Raf to KvA. I thought we'd never come to this.
Paging NDF.

[***]

Saw a first Raf Simons ad in a magazine. Don't remember which one.

4 pages of raf simons ads
2 or 3 for the mainline and 2 or 1 for raf for fred.

sigh

[mw000]

Saw these in the browns lookbook and took a photo, thought they may belong here, I had a good laugh when I saw them

Those are quite possibly the worst runners I have ever seen

[mw000]

Raf originally charged over one thousand dollars for these shoes.

That looks like the shoe is made of velcro and was just bombarded by rolls of colored thread

I can't even see how those could be $1000

[Fade to Black]

though he said he doesn't want to design for youths anymore, he still does it, more so than ever. just look at the kanye-ness of those sneakers. my guess is he looked at hypebeast and took this as the recent cool and hip thing amongst youth.
On a sidenote: KvA does a way better job than Raf at the moment. Leave aside the ridiculous bloopers KvA does every season, he got pretty decent collections to say at least. Raf however is completely inconsistent and struggling to find a new style, worse than KvA ever was at DH. And even considering things like those stupid tanks KvA did, they are still "better" than those Raf Asiscs.

yeah, it's definitely the Kanye-ness and the late noughties hip hop scene that's Raf's muse...this stuff isn't grown up at all. It's somewhat tailored looking suits but really for the young and trying to be hip crowd who's sworn off paper denims in favor of wearing these suits or Lanvin wool trouser outfits with common projects and parading around Paris Fashion week getting shot by style blogs and shit. Hedi Slimane getting inspired by sullen looking b&w tummy-baring youths in jeans too loose in the waist has more gravitas than this, speaks more towards introspection, impermanence and nostalgia which Raf once did, but rather is now achieving flash in the pan fluff for today then looking like a fossil the next second.

nothing inherently wrong with dressing like that but the whole thing projects a vibe of phoniness rather than genuine personal flair.

[Faust]

FtB, I like the word "gravitas."

[huckleberry]

The new raf simons website is somewhat strange. Go on the archive section and I guarentee you will almost have an epileptic fit.

http://www.rafsimons.com/collections/ss-10/

seriously wtf?

[Servo2000]

some good music, though.

[Torchiere]

Went into the archives looking for photos, got a teaching on how to deal with teenagers instead.