Some designers create from the inside out, voicing their view in fabric, music and more. Raf Simons is one of them. A silhouette, a song, a patch of fabric. Even before rising to global acclaim, he is already collecting impressions. As a teenager growing up in a Belgian town, he discovers the album art of graphic designer Peter Saville, including the iconic Unknown Pleasures cover for Joy Division.
From those first creative sparks, Simons begins shaping his own visual language. Trained in industrial design, he transitions into fashion with his debut show in 1995. It draws on youth culture, solitude and subversion, introducing a refined yet rebellious aesthetic. His namesake menswear label becomes a vessel for personal vision. Loved by collectors and music royalty like A$AP Rocky, it holds influence far beyond the runway. The impact remains visible in contemporary style, in both design and streetwear.
When Simons is appointed creative director for Christian Dior’s womenswear in 2012, a move that surprised many, he shows how his view can speak the language of soft rebellion. One of my recommendations is Dior and I, the documentary capturing his intense, emotional debut for the Maison. With artist Sterling Ruby, he brings emotion into couture, abstraction draped in silk and tulle. Starting in 2016, at Calvin Klein, his vision shifts towards architecture: panelled spaces, padded denim, American nostalgia reupholstered in thick furnishing fabrics. Fashion meets atmosphere. Several of these moments are now on view at MoMu.
Raf Simons for Calvin Klein, MoMu Antwerp.
At the heart of his work lies a clear method. In a rare note accompanying his graduation collection, Simons writes: “Collecting everything, I think, could be interesting to develop a new product: ideas, materials, techniques, forms, theories, texts, products, images, photos, videos, film, vision, philosophies… The challenge is to bring different collected items into a harmonious design, that is to say, to transform chaos into order.”
That concept continues to guide his practice. From his very first collection, corset-like forms already suggest a crossover between structure and emotion. This way of thinking, somewhere between architecture, design and fashion, becomes a signature. In collaboration with the Danish textile house Kvadrat, he later creates home fabrics that echo his sartorial codes: tactility, colour tension and modernist structure. These materials soon appear on the runway, blending interiors with the intimacy of wear. His vision also extends into footwear, through his collaboration with adidas originals. The designs link fashion, art and street culture, collected, worn and archived like cult objects.
Today, MoMu honours these layers in the exhibition Fashion and Interiors: A Gendered Affair. Simons’ world is explored through a multisensory lens. Objects, archive garments, textiles and soundscapes are placed in new dialogue alongside other Belgian fashion designers. This reveals how fashion and interiors connect in form, expression and feeling. Style lives beyond fashion. That perspective aligns with how I approach fashion and interior styling: through shape, texture and emotion.
And now, Simons works alongside Miuccia Prada at Prada. A perfect collaboration.
All images taken by author, courtesy of the brands and MoMu Antwerp.
discover: www.momu.be
