Raf Simons Fall/Winter 2020 Menswear Review

Piss yellow paper covered the industrial catwalk and peeled off the walls at Raf Simons’ latest menswear outing. The sickly, unnatural color filled the room as light bounced from a circular opening. The first man immerged from the hole in the yellow wall, in all black, with insanely good tailoring and a fur-lined muff over his hands. It was instantly apparent that Simons had chosen his strange and subversive accessory for the season. Last season, it was medical gloves and fox tail keychains. Last year’s was bucket helmets with draping straps.  

A hand muff does nothing for the twenty-first century man, who must live on his iPhone. Half a dozen were toted down the runway, each with their own cryptic and dystopian sounding slogans. These included “Solar Youth: They Don’t Want You to Know What You Are” and “No Land: With Open Eyes, but Still Nervous”.  Ratty faux fur shrugs also appeared throughout the collection, over impeccable coats adorned with oversized buttons, safety pins, zips, and chains, all matte white. The matte white extended to the feet, pristinely covering each model in rubber boots and uncomplicated sneakers. Clear vinyl cut to resemble waist coats encased the wearer and compressed several silhouettes at the waist.

Simons is known for subverting couture techniques and mixing them with the fetishistic. It’s been his bread and butter since day one. Hiring the best menswear pattern cutters out of college and styling it into a ribald concoction actually makes being fully dressed insanely sexy. Seduction may not be the first thing you see when you see an oversized blazer or a fur muff, but under the eye of Simons, it works. Simons is the king of menswear solely because his ideas are always accepted and immediately loved by the menswear community. Any man interested in high fashion covets the RS in his closet and this collection only shows that Simons isn’t missing a beat in the coming decade.

Photos Courtesy of Vogue Runway