“Was it emotional? Maybe in certain moments,” says the Belgian designer on the process of creating his Archive Redux collection, which looks back at 25 years of his eponymous label
Excellent news: Raf Simons’ Archive Redux collection is here. Celebrating 25 years of the designer’s cult label, the highly-anticipated release – which was announced last summer and arrives on Matches Fashion tomorrow – sees Simons re-issue 100 pieces from the brand’s hallowed archives, offering a new generation of devotees the the chance to own a piece of fashion history.
Arriving in the wake of the designer’s menswear debut as Prada’s co-creative director, Archive Redux features a slew of seminal pieces painstakingly selected from the past quarter of a century, including a hand-painted parka from A/W04, the black blazer from S/S99, the jumbo jumpers of A/W16, and pieces from his A/W14 Sterling Ruby collaboration.
“It was not so easy to decide,” Simons tells Matches Fashion’s creative director Simon Chilvers of the selection process, in an interview which will go live on the luxury retailer’s website tomorrow. “Was it emotional? Maybe in certain moments, because it is very much connected to memories. We hang out in the archives sometimes … but this time we were dissecting everything which was interesting. There were things that I was like, ‘We made that?’”
Such is the cult appeal of Simons’ label, it has attracted a devoted following since its advent in 1995. And it’s this community – its younger members in particular – that played an important part in his decision to create this collection. “I had a lot of reactions from young people who wanted pieces, and who weren’t even born when we were making certain pieces!” he says.
The past 12 months have been particularly momentous for Simons, who not only celebrated 25 years of his label, but also launched an official womenswear line and was, last February, appointed co-creative director of Prada, where he debuted his first menswear collection last week. The Redux collection is yet another exciting endeavour from this period and a reminder of Simons’ immeasurable contribution to men’s fashion.
Raf Simons Archive Redux is available from January 22 at MATCHESFASHION.