PARIS, July 2, 2001 (Updated Jun 27, 2009) / FW/ — Born in Neerpelt, Belgium in 1968, Raf Simons studied furniture design before launching his fashion career. He presented his first collection in Milan in 1995 but moved to Paris after just one season.

 

Raf Simons on the 'escalator' runway Spring 2005, Paris
Raf Simons on the 'escalator' runway Spring 2005, Paris

Inspired by uniforms of English Schools, movies and today’s headlines, Raf Simons was the first designer in the 1990s to give menswear a new graphic pencil-slim silhoutte.

A favorite among the youth, he has a cult following and considered iconoclastic.

An inventive designer, Raf Simons gets his inspirations from world headlines and creates an inspiring collection based on those.

He won the Swiss Textiles Award prize at the Gwand Fashion Festival in Lucerne, Switzerland. The 100,000 euros prize money provided a welcome capital infusion to his company.

In June 2005, he celebrated his 10 years in fashion with a retrospective at Pitti Uomo.

A month later, in July 2005, he was named Creative Director for Jil Sander.

[MARI DAVIS]

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