Raf Simons took the entire industry by surprise last night following the
announcement of his impending departure from iconic fashion house Christian
Dior. Following his three year tenure at the creative helm of the French
label, the Belgium designer chose not to extend his contract due to
personal reasons. According to numerous news mediums Simons has a good
relationship with Bernard Arnault, Chairman of Christian Dior’s holding
company LVMH, and Sidney Toledano, Chief Executive Officer at Dior had
nothing but praise for his work.
”Absolutely stunning,” “poetic”, “more than elegant,” and “completely
Raf”: are just a handful of the compliments that the designer received for
his debut collection for Dior in 2012. Simons, who founded his own
eponymous men’s wear label in 1995, was given a mere 8 weeks to develop
Dior’s fall/winter ’13 couture collection, which was to be his debut
collection for the fashion house. However, due to other existing work
duties, in the end Simons only had 4 weeks to create the collection – a
stark contrast to the usually 6 to 8 months most creative directors and
design teams are given to create and put together a haute couture
collection. “I think that I can handle the big expectations, such as the
blockbuster fashion show, commercial fashion and big concepts well. But I
don’t think that this makes you a better designer,” said Simons in an
interviews with Cathy Horyn from New York Magazine on his work.
In spite of a severe time shortage, Simons managed to create a collection
which was both loyal to the iconic feminine style of Dior whilst breathing
new life into the fashion house as well. The entire behind the scenes
design process was captured for the documentary “Dior and I,” which was
directed by Frédéric Tcheng, who is known in the fashion world for his
documentary on legendary fashion editor Diana Vreeland. Simons initial
discomfort with the traditional formalities in the fashion house become
apparent in the documentary. He would rather not be addressed as
monsieur and seemed to struggle at times with the language barriers
presented by his Flemish upbringing and Parisian French spoken in the
ateliers. However, Simons dedication to Dior and the atelier workers
ultimately shined through which led to an incredibly successful collection.
Simons collections for Dior are hailed for their modern and elegance.
The designer, who created his first women’s wear collection for Jil Sander
in 1995, proved to be inspired by the work of Dior himself during his time
at the fashion house. Simons created his own version of the full over the
knew skirt, and he made many references to the famous Bar jacket with the
nipped in waist. However he also worked in his own signature minimalistic
aesthetic into each collection and was open with his love of florals.
For his debut show during Paris Fashion Week in the summer of 2012, the
designer had the walls of the hall covered in 1 million blue delphiniums,
yellow mimosas and white orchids which emphasised the floral embroidery on
the collections dresses and blouses. His arrival at Dior not only received
positive applause from the media and fashion fans, but the fashion house
financial results also paint a happy picture of Simons tenure at Dior.
During an interview with French newspaper Les Echoes, Toledano revealed
that Dior Couture had witnessed its profits increase by 60 percent over the
past four years. Christian Dior reported a turnover of 3.9 million euros in
2013 – which had grown to 6.2 million euros by 2015.
The question on everyone’s minds now is who Simons successor will be.
Some news sources indicate that Riccardo Tisci from Givenchy could be a
potential successor whilst others suggest Jonathan Anderson from Loewe or
Phoebe Philo from Celine would be likely candidates. What is next for
Simons? in a press release published last night, Simons made it clear that
he wished to pursue other passions and interests in his life, including his
own label. Nevertheless the designer, who presented six Dior collections
per a year during his tenure, will be missed. “I think that in a short time
he has really accomplished a lot,” said Stefano Tonchi, the editor of W
Magazine to the New York Times. “He has really brought Dior into the
contemporary conversation in a certain way it was not with John, the last
years with John.”
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