How Raf Simons’ First Collection Came To Be
Shortly after witnessing Martin Margiela’s Spring Summer 1990 runway presentation, a young and stimulated Raf Simons embarked on his journey through fashion design. Encouraged by Linda Loppa, head of the fashion department at the Antwerp Royal Academy, Simons – self-trained – became a menswear designer and launched his eponymous label. Loppa then connected Simons with Daniel Gissele, who had an extensive experience with onboarding up-and-coming designers in large retail stores. While Raf focused on design, Linda Loppa and Daniel Gissele handled all the business dealings, making it their effort to bring him to the forefront of the fashion world.
Simons released his first collection during the Fall-Winter of 1995 and featured two street models in a video presentation that would later be replicated by A$AP Rocky for his music video for RAF. Around the same time, Helmut Lang presented his collection for the FW95 season to a showroom full of important patrons. However, it was Simons’ collection that caught their attention, ultimately leading to Simons’ collection selling out.