All roads led to the Raf rave. Originally set to take place during London Fashion Week, Simons finally got to have his big fashion bender at Printworks, the former printing factory turned into a cavernous South London nightclub.
It’s the first time Simons has shown outside of Paris, and his London arrival couldn’t have been more fitting. British subculture, often born out of austerity and hardship, has long inspired the designer. Like his fascination with Factory Records – he famously stamped Joy Division and New Order album artworks onto parkas which now sell for upwards of £30,000 on resale sites like Grailed – and his ongoing collaborations with heritage brands like Fred Perry and Dr. Martens, which has seen Simons study punk and northern soul.
1,000 editors, students and Raf super fans flooded the strobe-drenched dancefloor which was illuminated by a towering screen that looped videos of Raf-clad dancers. DJ Clara 3000 brought the teeth-jittering techno whilst guests hung about a giant bar which was wiped down and turned into the catwalk.
The collection saw Simons move beyond his usual swollen silhouettes in favour of smart suit jackets, terrifically awkward rompers and T-shirts worn as mini-dresses featuring the work of late artist Phillippe Vandenberg. He described the looks as “radical gestures of simplicity”, stripping back leather biker jackets to expose slithers of flesh and cladding his models in second-skin leggings and bodysuits which came in red, yellow and polka-dotted variations (very Camden, circa 2006). Although the collection itself didn’t lean into actual clubwear, the attitude of such pieces seemed as if Simons had subconsciously toured through nuances of British nightlife, be it moody punk nights in Manchester in the 1980s, or even noughties indie. Housed in what is set to be another club due to close (next year Printworks will be turned into luxury offices), you could say this was the designer’s love letter to dancing through adversity.
Photography courtesy of Raf Simons.
