Raf Simons Paris AW10 review for Dazed Digital

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The prime time slot on late Saturday evening went to Raf Simons a while back. The Belgian mastermind has long been up there with the great, and his status was confirmed when he successfully took over the creative direction at Jil Sander. But tonight was all about indulging his own design visions – and what a vision it was. As we pleasantly have accepted, Simons’ collections these days are mostly about sharp tailoring.


But a lot of Raf Simons’ suits and formalwear was tweaked in his autumn winter show; some of his double-breasted suit jackets had Velcro details, others sported colour panelling and a few coats and jackets came with push buttons. Simons also sent out his suit jackets layered under bomber jackets.


The trench coat was singled out for extra attention and was either kept in the shape of a skirt or made out of three separate pieces. Also wool – tops and bottoms – had been experimented with. They appeared as slim tops, tucked into skirt-esque garments, which gave the models an unusual silhouette. All in all Raf Simons deconstructed an otherwise formal and classic design direction into a personal and forward pushing aesthetic.

Raf Simons Paris SS10

We all change and mature – it’s called growing up. What we said, did and wore even just five years ago might be looked upon with disgust by ourselves today. Time doesn’t take hostages; move on or be left behind! For the last few years, that’s exactly what Raf Simons has done. Maybe it started around the time he took over at Jil Sander. Whatever his reasons, it is in his full right to further his label and to find new inspirations and influences.

And so he did. Snakes and belts dominated his spring summer outing, and I suppose, in a way, they’re very much related! It started out very plain though. The first handful of models wore simple – but beautiful - suits with white shirts and no ties. Then the first belt appeared. Not in an unusual way (this was after a Paris catwalk show after all) unless you think it’s weird to tie a belt around your suit jacket. In mostly dark colours, Raf continued to challenge his formal wear and coats; he added several belts to one outfit, he attached silk sleeves on top of the jacket, bomber jackets got multiple zips and he deconstructed suit jackets to the point that some only had the shoulders (or the back, or the front…) left and the rest was made out of an entirely different fabric.

One highlight was actually four plain short-sleeved shirts that came out in one go in navy blue, grey, black and burgundy red. They had breast pockets and epaulettes and were the only really old school Raf Simons pieces in his traditional army uniform style. Then the snakes started coming; first as v-neck details, then as full-blown transparent tops and, finally, on jeans. But what surprised the audience the most were perhaps the car shoes. Had you told a hardcore Raf fan a few years ago that he would be seeing car shoes , he wouldn’t have believed you. Raf Simons truly has grown up, and maybe it’s time that we do it, too.