it was inevitable that eventually a claude montana/thierry mugler revival was right around a very sharp corner. it was rather surprising that it would be someone like raf simons at the minimalist institution of jil sander that the body conscious and graphic aesthetic of montana and mugler will make it's re-debut. raf simons along with hedi slimane spearheaded the now ubiquitous rail thin silhouette. while slimane augmented that look with a street wear sensibility, simons used tailoring to give the silhouette a severe definition. while montana and mugler used body conscious dressing in a different type of way, where clothes were used to emphasize the larger than life ethos of the eighties, simons adapted the techniques used by the two designers to strengthen the silhouette by giving the form sharper angles, without the over exaggeration of his predecessors. he managed to present a collection that didn't feel like a revival, but actually rather futuristic in a tradmark raf simons sci-fi kind of way. he used colour and cut to give a new sense of form and definition the the male figure. colour blocking a suit jacket isn't a new thing for raf. he experimented with the same idea for his own label for his fall 2007 collection, but this time around he explored colours outside his familiar dark palette and applied the same technique on everything from shirts, suits, to simple t-shirts. the adding of decorative hardware like zippers with geometric tags added to the graphic feel of the clothes. in the short time that raf simons has been the creative director at the house of jil sander, he has managed to stay devoutly true to the spirit of the house and at the same time remain faithful to his own vision. this collection however saw raf simons starting to break away from the minimalist tradition of the house. he took an idea and evolved that idea into an extremely cohesive collection. it might not be the perfect exercise in commerciality, but in the execution of an idea, it was flawless.
photo: men.style.com
3 comments:
such a rip off of helmut lang, and hedi slimane's casting
everyone is ripping off slimane's model casting. the periphery of his vision extended far beyond the clothes, and i think thats why he was so influential.
raf simons has always had a certain model casting; you can check it out in his redux book.
i believe it has depth beyond its relation to slimane's.
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