Raf Simons just announced the closure of his eponymous brand, after a 27 year tenure in the fashion industry, multiple critically acclaimed collections, a slew of adidas collabs and endless cosigns from A$ap Rocky.
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One of the big “Antwerp Six” collective of designers, Raf originally graduated from the LUCA School of Arts in Brussels as a major in furniture design and it wasn’t until years later when he witnessed a Maison Margiela fashion show in Paris that he turned his talents to garments and opened his titular firm, since holding stints at Dior, Calvin Klein and his current position as Creative Director of Prada.
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Taking to Instagram, Raf shared the following message:
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“The Spring/Summer 2023 collection is the conclusion of an extraordinary 27 year journey and the final season of the Raf Simons fashion brand,”
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“I lack the words to share how proud I am of all that we have achieved”
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“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.”
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“Thank you all, for believing in our vision and for believing in me.”
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The end of the Raf Simons will surely hit hard for many aspiring fashion acolytes but the designer leaves behind nearly three decades worth of boundary breaking work to draw inspiration from, stamped by his final SS23 collection, which was one of the more minimalistic outputs from the designer, that in retrospect was a culmination of all the preferred “Raf” themes up to that point.
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Although Raf won’t be putting out any more work under his own label, he still has plenty left to do at Prada and we’re all on the edge of our mid century european chairs to see what the designer has planned going forward.
