Raf Simons

Proportions and textures that excite the eye: Raf Simons for Prada and the costumes for United States Vs. Billie Holiday

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  Raf Simons’ first collection for Prada simulates a yearning for contact, with proportions and textures that shock and excite the eye. Executed in leather and bouclé, lined in geometric jacquards, garments are sensual – crafting a topography of feeling, enjoyed by the wearer alone. Color and pattern excites the eye; surfaces entice touch. The … Read more

The Fashion Awards 2020 honoured those who have led change within the fashion industry this year

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@The Fashion Awards 2020 YouTube

Twenty individuals and fashion brands were announced as part of a short film that documented the fashion industry in this extraordinary year. They were recognised and received a ‘2020 Fashion Award’ in honour of their specific
contribution.

 

The Fashion Awards 2020 honoured and celebrated the designers, brands, creatives and individuals who have led
change within the fashion industry this year; from those who bravely faced this challenging year with pro-active
responses to the global pandemic, showed leadership and creative resilience over the past year, to the ones who
stood up against prejudice within the fashion industry and fight for change.

20 Fashion Awards honourees were recognised for humanitarian efforts, adapting business models, responding to their community’s needs as well as for leadership and creative resilience under four categories: Environment, Community, People and Creativity.

The COMMUNITY category focuses on the impact fashion has on communities in light of the pandemic as well as
the role skills and craftsmanship can play in sustaining local livelihoods. The ENVIRONMENT category celebrates
individuals and businesses who made a specific contribution towards achieving a circular fashion industry. The
PEOPLE category recognises those who have led change by encouraging equal, diverse, empowered workforces
from head office to supply chain and shop floor. The CREATIVITY category recognises designers and brands who
made a global impact in the past years through their creativity in design, campaigns, collaborations and firm
business foundation as well as defined the shape of global fashion.

Prada received the ‘2020 Fashion Awards’under the Creativity category @Prada

Prada received the ‘2020 Fashion Awards’ under the Creativity category during the digital celebration of the annual Fashion Awards, presented by the British Fashion Council.

The Creativity category recognises individuals and brands that made a global impact in the past year through
creativity in design, campaigns and collaborations, as well as defined the shape of global fashion through an
innovative approach.

Prada has been recognized a brand that embodies what a modern luxury house is about, creativity and social
responsibility. To name a few, the Prada Linea Rossa FW20 campaign with an exceptionally diverse cast, the
substantial efforts Prada has made during the pandemic to support Italy, and the ‘Tools of Memory’ campaign in
partnership with Sotheby’s with proceeds donated to benefit UNESCO educational projects, stood out as the main
initiatives of the brand in 2020.

Co-Creative Directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons were selected as they created positive change within the
fashion industry this year, while demonstrating the power of creativity and the importance of conversations through
their first show together last September. They received the Fashion Award 2020 prize virtually with a pre-recorded
video speech.

The Fashion Awards 2020; @fashionawards.com/Honourees

Community Category Winners:

  • A SAI TA;
  • CHANEL;
  • Emergency Designer Network;
  • Kenneth Ize;
  • Michael Halpern.

  • @fashionawards.com/Honourees

Environment Category Winners:

  • Anya Hindmarch;
  • Gabriela Hearst;
  • Christopher Raeburn;
  • Stella McCartney;
  • The Fashion Pact.
@fashionawards.com/Honourees

People Category Winners:

  • Aurora James;
  • Edward Enninful;
  • Lindsay Peoples Wagner and Sandrine Charles for Black in Fashion Council;
  • Priya Ahluwalia;
  • Samuel Ross.
@fashionawards.com/Honourees

Creativity Category Winners:

  • Graces Wales Bonner;
  • Jonathan Anderson;
  • Kim Jones;
  • Prada, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons;
  • Riccardo Tisci and Burberry.

As times change, so should creativity: Raf Simons joins Prada as co-creative director

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      Raf Simons is the new Prada’s co-creative director, working in partnership with Miuccia Prada The first Prada collection designed by Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons will be the Spring/Summer 2021 womenswear show, presented in Milan in September 2020. Prada announces co-creative directors From 2 April 2020, fashion designer Raf Simons will join … Read more

Raf Simons on life after Calvin Klein: ‘I’ve never defined myself as a fashion designer’

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In one of his first interviews since leaving the New York fashion house, Simons talks about the joy of designing textiles for Danish fabric company Kvadrat and his plans to open an art foundation

V&A to stage UK’s largest ever Christian Dior exhibition

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Princess Margaret’s birthday gown will feature in Designer of Dreams show in London

Lupita Nyong’o and Saoirse Ronan for Calvin Klein Women

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Calvin Klein Women is the first Calvin Klein fragrance developed under the vision of Chief Creative Officer Raf Simons. The campaign for this woody floral fragrance features actors Lupita Nyong’o and Saoirse Ronan.

calvin klein women campaign
photo: calvinklein.com

 

Directed by artist Anne Collier with creative direction from Lloyd & Co., the 2018-2019 campaign unfolds into a series of vignettes that provide a glimpse into Lupita Nyong’o’s and Saoirse Ronan’s creative inspirations. The commercial follows both women as they reflect on and embrace figures from the past that have inspired them. Viewers see Saoirse playing a Nina Simone record and sharing admiration for Sissy Spacek, while referencing her on the cover of a vintage magazine, while Lupita draws inspiration from beautiful collaged photography of Eartha Kitt and Katharine Hepburn, as she works on a script.

calvin klein women camp
photo: calvinklein.com

The intimate apartment settings serve as the perfect backdrop to follow Lupita and Saoirse as they draw from these iconic women, to help write themselves – and define modern femininity:

“You can be whatever type of woman you want to be” – Saoirse Ronan

“You can be an individual but still be a part of something bigger than yourself” – Lupita Nyong’o.

The light pink-hued fragrance builds around three core ingredients – fresh eucalyptus acorns, delicate orange flower petals and rich Alaskan cedarwood.

calvin klein women fragrance flacon 2018
photo: calvinklein.com

“In this campaign, Anne Collier brings to life a powerful narrative of confidence and self-expression, celebrating the profound inspiration women draw from one another. The support of this bond empowers a great sense of freedom,” shared Raf Simons, Chief Creative Officer, Calvin Klein. “The authenticity, vibrancy and strength of Lupita Nyong’o and Saoirse Ronan shine through as strong and beautiful voices of a new generation of modern femininity.”

“With the launch of Calvin Klein Women, our goal is to make the message inclusive and inspiring. To do that we broke with tradition — from the distinct fragrance and packaging, to the campaign creative featuring Lupita and Saoirse and the icons that inspire them. We also want to know who inspires women around the world, so we’ve created a digital call-to-action using #iamwomen to celebrate the individual and the collective.” said Simona Cattaneo, Chief Marketing Officer, COTY Luxury. “Partnering with Raf and Anne Collier to bring the Calvin Klein Women vision to life has been an incredible journey and we are excited to finally share it with the world and invite women to join this inspiring and empowering conversation.”

The perfume flacon is redolent of a timeless femininity, with an ergonomically rounded shape in weighted glass and silver collar and pump, drawing on traditional fragrance archetypes. It simultaneously disrupts aesthetic codes and respects traditions – the graphic, oversized disc-shaped cap designed in collaboration with Raf Simons, a canvas for a photographic print by Anne Collier.

Lupita Nyong'o and Saoirse Ronan for Calvin Klein Women
Lupita Nyong’o and Saoirse Ronan for Calvin Klein Women; photo: calvinklein.com