In Italian, ‘Ricostru’ means ‘reconstruction,’ but designer Rico Manchit Au was constructing an entirely new notion of designer Chinese fashion when she launched her label in 2011.
Raf Simons NYFW F/W18 Men's
February 09, 2018 10:00 AM
The Raf Simons collection is undoubtedly the highlight of New York Fashion Week: Men’s, and his Fall-Winter 2018 show left an exceptionally decadent impression. Heaps of Belgian Waffles, chocolates, fruit, cheese and wine tempted the gourmands attending the show. Staff urged guests to in fact help themselves to the enticing provisions strewn about the runway. We didn’t try anything, but the rumors stand that the food tasted as fit for royalty as it appeared.
The collection took heed from the German film Christiane F., a movie which Raf experienced through his curriculum in high school. Uli Edel’s 1981 film provides a visceral depiction of drug addiction in the disco and rave scenes of Berlin in the 70’s, and the show wouldn’t be Raf without interjections of coy graphic elements. Appropriately so, abbreviated drug monikers such as LSD, XTC, and GHB appeared on patches on knits and trousers, and a block-lettered “DRUGS” conspicuously stretched across the chests of sleeveless hoodies. A video still of Christine, played by Natja Brunckhorst in the film, was printed on shirts in several occasions, and while suspicious arrays of small cargo-pockets flashed from brightly colored satin coat linings, we are certain that, like Christiane F., the collection serves as a warning against drug use and not an endorsement.
Simons’ presented the recurring form of his characteristically boxy and superbly tailored outwear, set atop leg-hugging satin trousers with cargo pockets or knee patches. Combat-height boots were displayed in several varieties including a dramatic stark white. Coat sleeves were bunched en masse to display elbow-high vinyl gloves, as deconstructed knits billowed from beneath coat fronts, attached only at the neck and strewn across shoulders. The turtleneck “sweater fronts” glided down the disco-lit runway to choice techno music. Together, these elements brought a futuristic, almost cyborg tinge to the show that we expect Raf borrowed from the referenced Berlin rave culture. It made for a pleasantly interesting contrast to the palatial Renaissance feast, and we can only hope to be this well fed next season.
WRITTEN BY HOLLIS DE LANEY
PHOTO CREDIT: RAF SIMONS
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