RAF SIMONS REDUX

Simons isn’t the first designer to dip his toes into archive reissues. In 2017, Helmut Lang (the brand) launched Re-Edition, a reissue of 15 of the designer's most iconic and memorable garments from the late 90s and early 00s, the period when Helmut Lang (the designer) still headed up the namesake brand (a concept which was brought back again last year at Selfridges). Like Simons today, the re-editions were the kind of things that Helmut Lang fans would previously have had to turn to designer vintage specialists to get their hands on. The following year, Prada, where Simons is now Co–Creative Director also revived its iconic Linea Rossa nylon range. For Ms Prada, they were not an effort to go “back to your roots, but to declare who you are,” as she told GQ in 2018.

Perhaps it's Miuccia’s words of wisdom that have rubbed off on Raf. After all, the stuff represented in his long back catalogue is recognised as some of the most important collections in menswear history. They’ve influenced entire generations of designers that have followed him and changed the way his forerunners do their jobs today. He has shifted the landscape of men’s clothing, and since his 1995 debut, there’s been a long list of names who have taken inspiration and looked to channel the same disruptive energy of unsettled youth into fashion.

Back in 2004, New York Times fashion critic Cathy Horyn said that it was Simons who had made Hedi Slimane, former Creative Director of Dior Homme and Yves Saint Laurent, “possible”. In 2014, Virgil Abloh made his confessions of being a Raf Simons superfan. “I think what drew me to his work was his intellectualised view of current culture. His approach is so reality-based,” said Virgil Abloh in a Vogue interview on Raf Simons’s impact. “His early work is social commentary on being young, and that approach to fashion resonates with me the most.” Even Kanye West humbled his fashion ego for Simons, hailing the designer as his “idol” in 2008.

It’s not just fashion designers that love Raf either. His influence in music, in particular hip-hop has been elevated by none other than A$AP Rocky who first name-dropped the designer in his 2011 track ‘Peso’. It is also Rocky who has helped establish “Raf” as a household expression – a feat that’s only ever achieved by the type of designers who get referred to solely by their forename. Think Rei, Hedi or Yohji. As well as attending his live runway shows and being regularly photographed in his pieces, Rocky has shown his admiration for the designer by dedicating whole tracks to Raf like the Twitter freestyle called ‘Please Don’t Touch My Raf” and follow-up single ‘Raf’, which saw a music video with the A$AP Mob along with rappers Playboi Carti and Quavo spitting verses while dressed in “rare Raf” pieces.

After 25 years of being inspired by and creating uniforms for outsider youth, it only makes sense that he dedicates this collection to kids that originally inspired him. Simons himself has acknowledged the importance of his loyal young fanbase in various interviews and brand statements. In an interview with AnOther Magazine he explained: “What gives me enormous satisfaction is that we have an incredible following from a young crowd. I don’t know if it is because I understand them or because they understand me. I have always thought – and will never change my mind – that children and kids, youth, are our future. That’s by definition the case, so that’s also why it’s important to pay attention.” Meanwhile in the introduction to his fashion tome, Raf Simons Redux, Simons explains his work and label is not about himself, but rather “has always been, and will always continue to be, about us, about we, about you.”

Perhaps this is why he wants to give back to the audience that has continued to support him over the years while giving new fans an opportunity to experience these grails for the first time and purchase them at a reasonable price. While real archivists may insist that the project is nothing compared to originals, the continued cult following around the Raf Simons label will undoubtedly make these reissues collectible objects in and of themselves.