In case the following prose doesn’t give us away: we are not in New York, we did not see Raf Simons’ SS18 show last night. We were in bed. And, whilst we enjoy being in bed, we are obviously totally jel. And would have been there there were it not for deadlines and magazines to finish and fashion and stuff. Who knew this whole mag thing involved REAL WORK? So instead we will attempt to relay out thoughts gained entirely through Instagram and Vogue Runway.
Facts: it was in an alleyway in Chinatown.There was a smell “recently sold fish” (Luke Leitch). Some dry ice, a watery floor. Very atmospheric, by all accounts. Marc Jacobs was there. He said it was “a moment”. That Raf is who everyone looks to for what was coming next. Feeling was very Bladerunner. And Bladerunner was one of the inspirations said Raf post show. Films were the inspiration in general. And Peter Saville. Him, the artist who created the brilliant mountain-range cover of Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures and spawned a million less good tattoos. His graphics were on brolleys, and Chinese lanterns. And throughout the collection in general.
On the subject of brolleys, let’s discuss rainwear. There was lots of that here. Big, oversized raincoats in (I want to say) PVC, some that twisted on the body and fastened on the sleeve, others that enlarged the shoulder to maximum proportions. Welly boots, brimmed hats that came round under the chin. Touches of Raf collections past, too – collegiate knitwear, printed tabards, like those he first showed in Pitti. Trousers came up wide and short. Volume here too – the silhouette came up almost Japanese, the way that garments were fastened by string ties, or crossed the body in folds of fabric. Some good tailoring to end – wide on the shoulder but unstructured, like it was about to slip off. Fuck, we want to wear it ALL. Doesn’t New York look good on Raf?
