Raf Simons sits down with System Magazine before leaving Dior.
Before announcing his exit from Dior, Raf Simons sat down with Cathy Horyn from System Magazine to discuss how fashion kept speeding up in recent years: the designer gives his opinion on the always less elitist world he finds himself in, and its constantly chancing pace.
On not having enough time, he says: “You know, we did this collection in three weeks”, “Tokyo was also done in three weeks. Actually everything is done in three weeks, maximum five. And when I think back to the first couture show for Dior, in July 2012, I was concerned because we only had eight weeks.
The problem is when you have only one design team and six collections, there is no more thinking time. And I don’t want to do collections where I’m not thinking. In this system, Pieter [Mulier, Simons’ right hand] and I can’t sit together and brainstorm — no time. I have a schedule every day that begins at 10 in the morning and runs through the day, and every, every minute is filled. From 10.10am to 10.30am, it’s shoes, let’s say. From 10.30 to 11.15, it’s jewelry. Everything is timed — the whole week. If there’s a delay in a meeting, the whole day is fucked up.
What are you going to do? Walk out of the office at 8 o’clock at night? No, of course not. So you stay there until midnight. That’s the life.”
Simons goes from his busy routine to what fashion has become recently: while it used to be elitist, now he feels like high fashion is for everybody, and it is not as special as it was.
“Fashion became pop. I can’t make up my mind if that’s a good or a bad thing. The only thing I know is that it used to be elitist. And I don’t know if one should be ashamed or not to admit that maybe it was nicer when it was more elitist, not for everybody. Now high fashion is for everybody.”
Make sure to cop System Magazine FW15 issue to read the full interview, and let us know what you think on the designer’s views on his world.
System Magazine throws a lavish celebration for its sixth issue.
When System Magazine celebrated its sixth issue, whose cover features the quote ‘I wanted something calm’, alongside its author, Raf Simons, the launch party thrown by System’s editors Alexia Niedzielski and Elizabeth von Guttman was everything but calm.
To celebrate the newest issue of the publication, guests gathered to the Bemelmans Bar, the ground-floor bar at The Carlyle: the party saw APigeon performing on top of the bar, Cindy Sherman in Dior sipping on champagne, as well as A$AP Rocky, who stepped out in a white shirt paired with black jeans and Levi’s denim jacket.
Head over here to see more snaps from the issue launch.
