Raf Simons stunned the industry today, when he announced on his label’s official Instagram account that the spring 2023 collection would be the final season of his namesake label. The show, staged during London’s Frieze Art Fair, turned into a rave after the last model took their turn on the catwalk.
Simons launched his brand in 1995 after working as a furniture designer and interning at fellow Belgian Walter van Beirendonck’s design studio. He quickly achieved cult-status for youth-oriented collections which showcased his innate ability to distill inspiration from the underground art and music worlds into eminently recognizable minimalist silhouettes.
His spring collection featured the work of the late artist Philippe Vandenberg, and though we didn’t know it at the time, they proved prophetic. “They’re cruel words, like ‘Kill them all and dance.’ But he didn’t mean killing people,” the designer told Sarah Mower at the time. “He meant killing things that you’re doing creatively in order to move on and explore further.”
In his Instagram post Simons wrote, “I lack the words to share how proud I am of all that we have achieved. I am grateful for the incredible support from my team, from my collaborators, from the press and buyers, from my friends and family, and from our devoted fans and loyal followers. Thank you all, for believing in our vision and for believing in me.”
Reached for comment, Simons PR said the note on Instagram would be the only official communication about this move. At the top of his post, he included the year “1995,” when his label debuted, and the names of his parents Alda & Jacques. More cryptic are the phrases MEMORY WEAR, likely a reference to his spring 2015 collection, whose clothes featured collaged items from his childhood (a kitten, a roller coaster, an astronaut), as well as images of his parents when they were dating; and STATION TO STATION, a 1976 David Bowie album and song which featured prominently in the movie Christiane F, a favorite of the designer (in 2018, he launched a capsule collection inspired by the movie). Bowie has long been a touchstone for Simons (there were tees screen-printed with images of Aladdin Sane in his debut collection, and his debut at Calvin Klein opened with Bowie’s track “This is Not America.”
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