But we know that surfaces deceive. If we both don’t like something, then we don’t do it.’” “I have been thinking about my studio as a kind of Bauhaus. -Raf Simons, as told to Style.com. Mr. Ruby, who lives in Los Angeles, and Mr. Simons are also good friends. The artist and fashion designer have a close relationship of some years, but their much reported creative coming together was not the only collaboration … Simons’ isn’t. January 15′s show space has been carefully selected so that it couldn’t possibly be construed as an “art” environment. It’s a brand rooted in the site specificity of IRL subculture, the iconoclasm of 20th century design, and the melodramatic land-scape of suburban isolation. Ad Choices. The designer enlisted long-term collaborator, Belgian artist Peter de Potter (whose slogans and graphics frequent Simons’ menswear), to come up with a design that explores ideas of thought and process, once again highlighting the concept of dialogue and exchange of ideas between designers. A Cozy Phone Call With Raf Simons About Home Furnishings, the Nature of Art & Schitt's Creek ( All the content you need to see you through this period of self-isolation. “Very liberating,” says Simons. To have the brand’s iconic logo redesigned. Earlier this year, in an interview with GQ, he described the current and pronounced fascination with his earlier work (in particular A/W03) as “weird to experience.”, This past week in Chinatown, New York, we witnessed Simons’ latest musings on the subject, as he once again called upon Saville and incorporated many of the record artworks from A/W03 into the S/S18 collection. Simons’ A/W03 collection, which saw his first formal collaboration with Peter Saville, incorporated many of the record sleeves and motifs of the Englishman’s work at Factory Records, from Joy Division’s enduring Unknown Pleasures cover to more subtle accents, like the ‘F’ logo of the band’s record sub-label, which adorned the sleeves of the mod-style parkas that were shown. “We are making a men’s fashion collection, not an artwork,” Simons insists. Dior’s creative director, Raf Simons, has just announced his upcoming collaboration with artist Sterling Ruby on his new menswear collection, which will be shown in Paris on January 15th. Some ten days prior in Manchester, the art exhibition True Faith opened, examining “the ongoing significance and legacy of New Order and Joy Division”. This one promises the polar opposite: do-it-yourself handcraft dewed with the sweat of an honest workingman’s brow. “When you’re thinking about a new collection,” he says, “your own history is very much in your thoughts.”, Even before the collection is subjected to the jury of public opinion, the experience has had a transformative impact on its protagonists. Raf described the collection as a full-on collaboration 9 years in the making. Simons says, “It’s very much about the juxtaposition of the collection, which is what I do, with the space where it is presented and sold, which is what Sterling is doing.” “I said to him, ‘Let’s just make it very simple. A passionate collector of contemporary art and modern design, Simons’ aesthetic is often informed by his admiration for art and he regularly engages in interdisciplinary collaborations. The Belgian fashion designer, who has become one of fashion's most celebrated figures since setting foot in the industry in 1995, has held successful stints as creative director for style powerhouses Jil Sander and Dior, as well as chief creative officer for Calvin Klein. Despite hailing from two decidedly different parts of the world – Simons from the sleepy town of Neerpelt in Belgium, and Saville from Manchester, England – the duo share a decidedly modernist outlook on culture. The Kvadrat/Raf Simons collection received great recognition in the media and is distinguished by the blending of colour and materials for which the designer is known in the fashion world. While not exactly a collaboration between the two, it left an irrevocable impression on Simons, and would go on to inform much of his early work – with themes of isolation and angst, punctured by youth culture and the transformative power of music and art featuring regularly. – I didn’t know anything. Big deal, right? With the Simons/Ruby collection being one of the most attractive and fully conceived offspring of fashion and art’s courtship, there will undoubtedly be people who prefer to hang the clothes on their walls. Heavily influenced by music, art and youth subcultures, another collaboration with Simons was a seamless reunion. Except it won’t be his name on the label. Perhaps out of a desire that Calvin Klein be known as a fashion brand first and foremost, if one that happens to create underwear too, a newly appointed Simons wasted little time in attempting to rework the brand’s image. In 2008, Ruby designed the interior of the Raf Simons Tokyo store, and a year later Simons used denim bleached by Ruby to create a collection of jeans and jackets. The second of our 1460 Remastered collaborations has landed. In my work I have been thinking about the moment the utilitarian object becomes an aesthetic object.”, The last Raf Simons collection for men offered a shiny Warholian pop/art vision of the evolution of product in a synthetic world. “It seems like an endless cycle for designers, and they make decisions so fast,” he says. The Another Man world has moved to AnOthermag.com. Since 2014, the collaboration between Kvadrat and fashion designer Raf Simons has brought a fresh sensibility to textiles for the home. Raf Simons, of course, has never been one particularly enamoured with conventional ideals. Artist Sterling Ruby and fashion designer Raf Simons did just that when they sat on stage with curator Jessica Morgan at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. 20 years after its inception in 1995, the Raf Simons label had become an oracle for a pre-Internet notion of beauty and freedom. “But in a more extreme way. Instead, he’ll be sharing the billing with Sterling Ruby (above, right), “one of the most interesting artists to emerge in this century,” according to The New York Times. “I wanted to go to where I was in the beginning. They are made from bleached denim and canvas, materials that I also use to make some of my artworks. This is all the way, all the way. Raf Simons As we are both heavily influenced by music, art and youth subcultures, another collaboration with Simons was a seamless reunion. “For one season, the brand ‘Raf Simons’ will not exist,” the designer boldly declares. Belgian iconoclast Simons has produced many memorable collections in a career spanning over two decades, but one in particular seems to be fixated on by fans and fashion journalists alike. Well, leave it to Raf Simons to do just that. Photo: Courtesy of Raf Simons; Melanie Schiff. Vogue may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The challenges such an endeavor presents seem obvious. For Simons, famed English graphic artist Peter Saville was not only an early hero – it was the enticing otherness of the record covers Saville designed which first exposed the Belgian to the strange, radical sounds emanating from Manchester at that time – but he was also somebody Simons sought to collaborate with. Whether painted, sculpted, dripped, slopped, or bronzed, Ruby’s work is extravagantly physical, monumentally messy—or messily monumental. While that collection is nearly 15 years old, and the artwork used within it closer to 40, there is something to be said for the fact that both look decidedly current – two expressions of youth culture, both of which have somehow become timeless. By plumbing the Pop artist's lesser-known works, Raf Simons hopes to create collaborations … Prada's standout collaboration was with French artist Christophe Chemin for the celebrated autumn/winter 2016 menswear collection. Raf Simons, fall 2014. In April 2020, Raf Simons joined the Prada brand as Co-Creative Director, working in partnership with Miuccia Prada. © 2021 Condé Nast. Prada SS20 vs Raf Simons SS16. Now, Simons is bringing the same passion for creative collaboration to the design world with an ambitious collection of chairs for Design Miami at Art Basel 2018. Look no further than the extensive Raf Simons collection on eBay. Save this story for later. Most people are aware of David Bowie and Joy Division’s influences on Simons’ work, but Kraftwerk is a bit more confidential. Usually when I work in collaboration with an artist I go ask the artist. All rights reserved. Usually when I work in collaboration with an artist I go ask the artist. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. 19 … “And even before our collaborations, we were talking a lot about textiles.”, Those collaborations have included the interior of the Raf Simons store in Tokyo and a handful of outfits from Simons’ first couture show for Dior, which referenced Ruby’s paintings. There is not one shirt, one shoe, one sock that is not from our mutual thinking process.”. Those days—before everything got so much more “industrialized,” as he puts it, for him—have been on his mind a lot lately. “I know this independence is what people like most about my brand.” For Ruby, it’s been an education in the unholy speed of the fashion industry. “I come from a village of 6,000 people, so forget about Berlin, London, New York – what are you talking about? Courtesy of Raf Simons and Vogue US. But that was a challenge Simons saw as his own: for the designer to find solutions to technical issues so the artist’s creativity wouldn’t be restricted. Here, we take a look at nearly two decades of creative endeavours between the two, and examine Simons’ for not only meeting your heroes, but working with them too. In the last couple of years, I have been producing my own work clothes to wear at the studio, work shirts, pants, and jumpsuits. There’s one dropping once a month, every month throughout 2020. “As much as we feel free to do this, anyone who buys it should feel free to do whatever they want with it.”. With references to the youth who create their own looks, like punks and new wave and new romantics,” he said of this latest collaboration. A passionate collector of contemporary art and modern design, Simons’ aesthetic is often informed by his admiration for art and he regularly engages in interdisciplinary collaborations. “It was less of a challenge than you might think,” Ruby offers. There has been an apparent tension in Simons’ work over the past few years, as he reckons with his own legacy and place in the zeitgeist. More linked to my own past.”. Here, we dive into Simons’s first large-scale art collaboration. On January 15, Raf Simons will show his new men’s collection in Paris. “We have similar sensibilities that surface when we speak about music and art,” Ruby confirms. From Fall-Winter 1995 to Spring-Summer 1997, Simons' collections were shown either in presentations or videos. This outlook has, in turn, spawned one of the most unique and intriguing collaborative relationships in fashion. Geography, for one, when the creative process so physically involves one person based in Antwerp and another in L.A. Simons insists that even if Ruby wasn’t at every fitting, every single decision was made jointly. Raf Simons Opens His Atelier—and Shares His Label—to Artist Sterling Ruby for the Most Complete Designer/Artist Collaboration Yet By Tim Blank s December 16, 2013 A/W15 saw him declare that his “archives were no longer relevant,” while his S/S17 collection, shown in Florence, was set in a room filled with archive pieces. LONDON, United Kingdom — With its invigorating suggestions of early punk, Russian Constructivism and a future filled with perpetual art students, the bleach-mottled, patched and collaged Raf Simons Sterling Ruby collection was a highlight of the Paris men’s shows earlier this year. “For one season, the brand ‘Raf Simons’ will not exist,” the designer has confirmed, meaning that every single article of clothing and accessory that will be sent down the runway is entirely the product of joint decision-making. But logic is equally insistent. A lot of tributes to artists can be easily identified through Simons’ early collections. Fashion’s loss is a win for textiles as the designer’s ongoing collaboration with the Danish firm is producing some of his best work yet. (to) reach out to different generations, not only people who are following art.” Raf Simons about this collaboration. Both have also collaborated with artists in their work: Mrs Prada famously worked with Christophe Chemin for her autumn/winter 2016 collection while Simons has a long-standing partnership with Sterling Ruby that started during his tenure at Christian Dior and continued when he was the chief creative officer of Calvin Klein. (This from a designer who showed last season at **Larry Gagosian’**s newest Paris gallery.) It is not a simple collaboration, a case of a designer bringing in an artist to create a T-shirt or a bag. Now, the design team at the brand is officially creating on a complete “collaboration” with the late artist’s work. For our 60th anniversary, we’re working with 12 innovative labels, brands and designers on 12 one-off reworks of our Original boot, limited to 1460 pairs worldwide. DR. MARTENS x RAF SIMONS. For Raf Simon’s previous SS17 Collection, a collaboration with the Mapplethorpe foundation saw the late photographer’s images integrated into the collection: the sublime black and white flowers giving a timelessness and softness to his minimal lines. Artist Sterling Ruby and fashion designer Raf Simons did just that when they sat on stage with curator Jessica Morgan at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. We have to think back in time – no computers, no mobiles, no nothing – it was pure isolation in a way.”. “But what shouldn’t be forgotten about the rawness of Sterling’s work is that it’s about someone who takes complete control as a person and an artist,” Simons points out. Today, those parkas can fetch up to tens of thousands of pounds on reseller websites. His first port of call? 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