The flared black trouser legs puddled around the feet like whirlpools of tar. The models’ heads were cloaked in checkered scarves, obstructing their view and sending some of them tumbling off the raised catwalk onto the concrete floor. The space glowed red and the rave music rumbled as the audience milled about.
After all these years, Raf Simons still knows how to summon a mood of youthful rebellion, and the electricity of a fashion happening. There was certainly a punk spirit to his oversize macs riddled with grommets in geometric formations. After all, isn’t a raincoat meant to keep you dry? Edgy too were his oversize grommet-studded nylon rucksacks, which models lugged on heavy chains draped over one shoulder, dragging around their belongings like a burden.
The rest of the collection felt more familiar, as Simons continued to experiment with the narrow, elongated shapes he introduced for fall. He reprised his shrunken Seventies sweater vests, which helped exaggerate the oversize nature of the pants. Tailored jackets were either lean or gently oversized in sturdy woolens. Both varieties were among the most serious seen so far this European season, and all the more subversive for it.