Who is Raf Simons?
At the start of this month, a 44 year old Belgian fashion designer made a smashing debut at Paris’ Fashion Week Haute Couture for the Fall/Winter 2013. His name? Raf Simons. Sure, John Galliano was sorely missed by his followers because of his fierce creativity, but certainly not for his drunken, anti-Semitic tirade.
Above: Grand Entrance: Princess Charlene of Monaco, Bernard Arnault, Delphine Arnault and Isabelle Huppert looked on as the first model made a striking entrance wearing a Dior classic dress with a dyed pattern that reminded me of darkness, and poetry.
2012 seemed a light-year away from 1997, and the ghost of Galliano was nowhere in site during the fashion show which took place at a grand residence in a series of intimate rooms filled with white orchids in one room, deep purple delphiniums in another, along with a mixture of roses. So once the lights came on, the audience was captured by Raf Simons’ vision for Dior, and ultimately witnessed a rebirth of the fashion house’s lustrous history. Instead of his usual runway shows which often find the models parading up and down train stations, and parking lots, the fashion designer showed some finesse by taking the reigns with passion and a little bit of old school drama.
DIOR’S NOD
TO THE 1940s
Raf Simons
Woking that old Dior magic: The detailed, and decorated embroidered top is so charming and romantic. The lean cigarette pants wasn’t bad either!
Raf Simons does have his own menswear collection, but before taking this job as the director of Dior, he’s worked for Jil Sanders as their creative designer in 2005. He was given high praise for his variety of highly coveted pantsuits which were a staple for TV personality Ellen DeGeneres. The New York Times Fashion Writer Cathy Horyn had this to say about his Fall 2007 collection, “On Tuesday a little-known Belgian designer named Raf Simons had the full attention of the fashion world. Mr. Simons’s collection for Jil Sander, his third since becoming creative director 18 months ago, was perfect. It will make everything else, I bet, seem a little contrived, a little clunky, a little silly.” She also considered his talents to be up to par with the likes Azzedine Alaia and Karl Lagerfeld!
Gold Rush: Out of control exquisite pencil skirt and gold weaved top.
So Haute!
Throughout the entire collection, Raf Simons managed to honor the original Dior designs by combining the delicate and complexed textures for a glamorous and smooth look.
Cape town: The audience was clearly mesmerized (not just by the beautiful flowers) and payed rapt attention to the perfection and great details of the garbs. I wondered what Anna Wintour,
and her daughter Bee Shaffer thought of them all…
Magnificent finale!
Raf Simons made the collection all his own – thread by thread.
La Vie En Rose
This was the entrance to the runway show earlier this month in Paris.
A little over one million flowers were used. How extravagant. How delightful. How brilliant!
Images courtesy of Benoit Tessier for Reuters via The Guardian
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