Raf Simons
Raf Simons
Raf Simonsis a Belgian fashion designer. Beginning in furniture design, he launched his own menswear label in 1995. In April 2012 he was announced as the creative director at Christian Dior. On October 22, 2015 he resigned from Christian Dior...
NationalityBelgian
ProfessionFashion Designer
Date of Birth12 January 1968
CityNeerpelt, Belgium
CountryBelgium
fashion thinking artist
When artists connect to a system because they want to make a living, it's their own choice. In fashion, designers don't have that choice. I know everybody mentions Azzedine Alaïa, but he's been going for a long time in the system - showing to people, selling to clients - and I think it's admirable how he's transformed it into his own system in a way, but it's still a system.
jobs thinking hands
The psychology for the person who's actually doing it is completely different. I think I probably needed to put that [hired-hand] psychology in my own head to be able to do the job. Otherwise it would just be too scary. People outside make it much bigger than me. I'm not saying in my head, "Oh, my god, what an amazing idea!" It scares me if I would do that.
strong thinking hands
My own show with Sterling Ruby, for example, seems like such a huge disconnection from Dior couture, but then I think, yeah, in both collections there was a very strong focus on the human hand and the actual work of people making garments. So in that sense, they were completely related. But I didn't realize that during the process.
thinking way use
I would prefer to use the word free. I think the Dior thing is so much freer. There was not so much free about Jil's way of working.
dream fashion thinking
If I see a fashion show with literal influences, it doesn't make me think any more. It doesn't make me dream.
men thinking years
I never really have to sit at a desk thinking, "What should I do now?" It doesn't work like that for me, and it never has. My thinking process is constant. The difference is that once I was in Antwerp only doing two men's shows a year. And the weird thing is I thought I was busy then.
thinking years clothes
When it's only clothes, that is not satisfying enough for me. I don't think I could do this for 10, 20 years if that was all. It also has to be about a psychology or a mentality or a concept.
thinking challenges dior
I've always seen myself as a small entity, and it will always stay like that. I'm not changing. But I think the big challenge for me taking on the Dior thing is to see how I can connect that to such a huge institution.
thinking connections sometimes
You do what you do. Or you do what you have to do. I don't know how to explain it better. I think that in the moment, you can't see connections, but sometimes afterwards you do.
bigger society wants
Our society wants things to grow, and our society wants things to become bigger and bigger. Everything has to be put under the spotlight.
raised
I was raised in a very happy nest by very happy people, and I like to think that those are enough ingredients to make me succeed at Dior.
beauty certain love point
My point of view is that if I love a certain kind of beauty, I want more of that beauty. I don't need 200 different beauties.
chanel develop instantly spot
You can instantly spot a Chanel woman, so I want to develop the Dior woman.
attitude
I couldn't go now to a brand that had a niche attitude like... gothic. I couldn't do that. Well, I could do it, but I wouldn't find it interesting, challenging.