 PARIS, July 1, 2006 - In the centerfold of the Raf Simons show invitation was
a long list of names that included Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Alan
Shepard - three men who helped mankind break through new frontiers. Perhaps
that kind of futuristic outlook stands in contrast to current neo-conservative global trends, but that's the approach Simons has taken for men's fashion. There is a refreshing simplicity to his work, pieces that at
first seem rather nondescript, but then in clearer light stand out for their
details: the inside of pant pockets glazed with metallic silver, a raincoat
cut with intergalactic elliptical holes at the arms, a parka worked with a
monk-like hood. Helmut Lang's work used to pack the same heat, up until his
inability to change with the times, put him out of work.
The Simons show on Saturday night was set to beating soundtrack and before a
video of young men, mostly stoned, all ecstatic, filmed at a series of
underground parties.
The collection itself was based in Simons' habitual black, in the form of
pleated shorts, and white, as in formfitting turtleneck tops. The Van Gough
quote "there is no blue without yellow and without orange" became reality in
the series of muscle shirts painted in geometrical prisms of green, yellow
and blue. Tightly cut suits and pencil trousers worn with sandals said
something about the way young men dress - or dress up.
If Raf Simons is somewhat of a mystic in the fashion world, capable of seeing
what is around the corner and acting on it before it happens, then he lived
up to his reputation by being the only designer thus far to foresee the heat
wave that has settled upon Paris, and to stage his show in air-conditioning.
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