Children of the Revolution, Welcome Home
Raf Simons showed his first ever women’s wear collection this last Friday. With this debut, the Belgian fashion designer (who gained his experience at a number of reputable fashion houses including Jil Sander, Christian Dior, and Calvin Klein, and just this last season, served as Prada’s co-creative director) presented this very exciting, fresh and playful masterpiece.
The show opens with a male model slowly crawling out of a hole into a lush Garden of Eden, revealing the first look: red trousers paired with a light blue shirt emblazoned with ‘Children of the Revolution, Welcome Home’
With his self-directed film called ‘Teenage Dreams,’ the designer enters us into a new world with an interesting colour palette, ranging mainly in warm orange tones and browns. His retro color scheme is perhaps best shown in a psychedelic apple green sleeve and aubergine purple flowy maxi skirt. We also see an increase in the trend for black clothing for the next season, like in a full-on sleek vinyl ensemble. Additionally, he accessorised most of his pieces with pin-on buttons stating ‘Youth Against,’ ‘Question Everything,’ and ‘Freedom,’ reminiscent of the 80’s punk culture he grew up in, reminding us of Martin Margiela, who Raf pays homage to in this collection.
No matter where we are in life, Simons’ show definitely makes us question the phases between being a child and becoming an adult and the social and interpersonal responsibilities that come with this rite of passage. The models walk around, curious, discovering new things in groups, and sticking together in support when they open the window for more peers to join their side. Raf places importance on revolutiolnary togetherness. Sometimes the model’s singular exploring suggests that they may find themselves feeling elsewhere or outside, lost in a world of new opportunity. In a big net, support is paramount. They all get back onto their feet. Is now not the best time, that we all help each other out?
After 25 years of Raf being in the business, he has yet to disappoint. This show is historical and will go down as one of his best. Below, some of our favorite looks, as well as a streaming of Teenage Dreams.
