Rub + Rubbing + Clubbing

Maison Martin Margiela Spring/Summer 2015

The most amazing menswear collection that has happened in a long time. And although the Rosso Diesel system has taken ownership, the team around Matthieu Blazy delivers high quality true to the eponymous founder.
/HORST

Garanularity IX

1. Raf Simons Spring/Summer 2015
2. Jil Sander Fall/Winter 2012
3. Raf Simons Spring/Summer 2015
4. Jil Sander Fall/Winter 2012
5. Raf Simons Spring/Summer 2015
6. Raf Simons/Sterling Ruby Fall/Winter 2014
7. Raf Simons Spring/Summer 2015
8. Raf Simons Spring/Summer 2015 & Raf Simons/Sterling Ruby Fall/Winter 2014
9. Raf Simons Spring/Summer 2015 & Raf Simons Fall/Winter 2013
10. Raf Simons Spring/Summer 2015 & Raf Simons Spring/Summer 2013
11. Raf Simons Spring/Summer 2015 & Raf Simons/Sterling Ruby Fall/Winter 2014

The Raf Sandior universe is a hermeneutic one. This time, he payed homage to himself. More precisely, the last two years. The cocky statement of self-reflection. The sailor flap jacket. The uni-denim-form. The patch, the sleeve, wet stray boy hair. Masturbational.
/HORST

Globetrotters, or: A Collector's Collection

1. Dior Fall/Winter 2013
2. Raf Simons/Sterling Ruby Fall/Winter 2014
3. Raf Simons/Sterling Ruby Fall/Winter 2014
4. Dior Spring/Summer 2014
5. Dior Fall/Winter 2013 & Raf Simons/Sterling Ruby Fall/Winter 2014
6. Dior Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2013 & Raf Simons/Sterling Ruby Fall/Winter 2014

I love the fact that, in a way, the collaboration of Raf Simons/Sterling Ruby has delivered a masculinized, messier, multiplied version of the Dior cosmos. And now, for women as for men, it is all about the statement shoe and the statement bag.
/HORST

Image credits Style.com

Artificially Flavored, Primrose Path

Dior Spring/Summer 2014

After his ingenious investigation on the psychological work of Warhol and Schiaparelli, Raf Simons is returning to his concept of 'Dior for Raf Simons'. We are confronted with 'boy scout' girls, a motif known from his biography. We are confronted with slashed typography, a motif known from his earliest and latest menswear collections. We are confronted with stripes, a motif known from his work for Jil Sander. In fact, we are confronted with beauty, a motif known from Raf Simons.
/HORST

Appendix:



1. Raf Simons Fall/Winter 2000
2. Raf Simons Spring/Summer 2014
3. Jil Sander Spring/Summer 2011

Barbara Did It First? II

1. Barbara Kruger Untitled (Remember Me), 1988
2. Raf Simons Spring/Summer 2013

Barbara wants 'You' to 'Remember' 'Her'. Raf 'Will Do Her' this favour. And with this in mind, maybe appropriation is about remembrance? About the not-forgotten and will-not-be-forgotten. In a world where information passes through so fast, we hardly notice it was ever there.
/HORST

Second Life, 2013

or 'Avatar'



























Shirt RAF by Raf Simons
Cropped trousers Whyred
Boots Ann Demeulemeester

When virtual identity turns into overstaged reality, the self-portrait becomes a patch. Distinctions are being made between first and second life. Yet, one cannot sim-ulate what has not been created before.
/HORST