We took a little dive into our DJ friend Lorenzo LSP’s Raf Simons archive pieces

When Lorenzo asked me to give him a hand in going through his Raf archive because he wanted to sell some of it and needed a bit of help in deciding what items were more interesting from an archival point of view I jumped at the chance. Lorenzo has given us access to his archive, his terrace, and has also put together a little playlist inspired by his personal experience with Raf Simons’ clothes and the musical influences behind them.

PHOTOS AND STYLING RICCARDO SLAVIK

MODEL THOMAS DONNA AT THE CLAW

GROOMING ROMEO MIRTI

FASHION RAF SIMONS FROM LORENZO LSP’S PERSONAL ARCHIVE

Raf Simons Redux scans by Archive PDF

I was thinking about youth culture for nearly half of the 20th century. Basically since I was born in 1968. I’m a kid of hippy parents, but for some reason I never touched hippy culture. Its aesthetics never interested me. But I looked at all the other manifestations of youth culture – new wave, punks, grungers – not only from an aesthetic point of view but also the principles they stood for. I think those principles are still relevant today and I see that young people still abide by them: sexual liberation, the no-gender issue, disagreement with the political establishment, ecological awareness and harmony with nature. All of this is very important to me and my creative process. I started to realise that the brand wasn’t only being picked up by young people but also by people with a young mindset, no matter what their age. So I feel that in a subtle way what I do has some political edge in terms of attitude. 

Raf Simons Vogue.it

The state of youth today is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. My own generation – maybe not myself, but the people around me – all had very very specific opinions. They might have been negative, positive or reactive, but they were always very specific, despite there being a lack of information. For me, it was all about mystery, the things that were underexposed and that were difficult to find… You know, all the things we were interested in were bubbling in our minds and it made it the whole thing quite romantic. 

When I ask young kids today, ‘What’s your favourite music? What are you listening to?’ – I’m not kidding you – eight out of ten will say: ‘Everything. I like everything. All genres.’ I’m not even sure if I should say this because I don’t want them to think that it’s strange. I mean, it’s not that I even find it strange, but I just wonder and question why it is. Maybe it’s because people don’t want to be specific any more -– we really wanted to be specific. It’s funny because it’s something Willy (Vanderperre) and I have been talking about recently. When we were young and we went to clubs, there was one genre of music, one dress code and one style of dancing for the whole night. For example, (underground 80s Belgian electronic scene) new beat. You didn’t like that? You didn’t go. You didn’t belong. You would go to a jazz club. These days, if people go to a festival there’s everything. Now, we might miss that because we grew up in a different way, but that is my whole questioning. The younger generation aren’t going to miss something they never had. That’s just not what they’re about and that’s why I get mad when an older generation criticises them. I find it almost painful, because they’re not going to be like we were. We have to realise that. 

Raf Simons Beyond The Interzone Dazed

Distressed military sweatshirt with patches, sweatshirt with back patches FW 2001-02 Riot, Riot, Riot, Towel SS 2009

Passion is what drives his work, too. If there’s one thing I wanted to get across with this book, it’s this; put aside, although never erase, the schoolboy, the robot, the goth drop-out, the protester, the nature kid, the space-age casual. They’re only symbols, indicators. What they really convey is pure emotion without any trickery. Raf has proved that, in one big natural swoop and before the commentators can make their seasonal shopping round-up, fashion can indeed say something all-encompassing and essential about masculinity, society, individuality and freedom. Whispering, wondering, hesitant, shouting, jubilant or unafraid, Raf’s voice has always been for real. And I’m glad that the world has been taking note.

Peter De Potter Raf Simons Redux 2005