How To Talk To Your Teen Collection Spring/Summer 1997
The collection was presented in a photo studio in Paris. A video showing 14 teenagers who run out of school and finally come together in an imaginary U.F.O., an environment created by themselves where they can indulge their fantasies in contrast with their daily life and earthly things such as school, parents, etc.
The showroom was decorated with three large pictures taken from the video, and with 25 seventies style Plexiglas photo-cubes with photo’s of the teenagers.
The silhouette is again tight and close to the body, inspired by the Mods and the Punks in combination with schoolboys and surf boys.
The materials are classical combined with vivid colours. They look old and washed off.
Trash t-shirts with prints or pearls and shirts embroidered with ‘Teenage Summer camp’.
The colours: red, jeans, brown, kaki, white, grey and black.
Raf Simons gave his first fashion show in Paris on Sunday January 26th 1997.
The collection does not radiate a 1997 atmosphere.
The inspiration: Transition between Punk and New Wave; Exchange project between American University students and English schoolboys at a British campus. The Look: American college students and English schoolboys with a background of New Wave and Punk. Mixture of different elements of youth-culture, e.g. the leather ‘perfecto’ jacket is reminiscent of Raf Simons’ own youth and now he gives his own interpretation of this youth-symbol.
The collection is always a mixture of cheap and chic, as well in the choice of the materials (mostly classical fabrics mixed with some trashy items) as in the design of the different models.
Black Palms: featuring heavy metal-style prints, cut-off sleeves and tight tailoring, set to a soundtrack of Belgian New Beat. Fashion show at a garage in Paris.
The graphic design of the 'Black Palms' was made by Franky Claeys.
Raf Simons organised his elaborately orchestrated show, called ‘RADIOACTIVITY’ in the Moulin Rouge in Paris on Friday January 23rd 1998.
The collection was inspired by: Kraftwerk, Laurie Anderson, Vanessa Beecroft, Ceremony the 80’s New Wave and Punk. The show was a continuous alternation of classic and trash.
Make-up and Hair: The head group of the models had dyed black hair and pale faces. The faces of the Kraftwerk part were made up in white, with bright red lips. Four spider-men appeared with a spider-web on their faces.
The silhouettes: Tight, strictly classical, shapes with influences of Punk, New Wave and historical costumes. The coats had a sharp form and shiny zippers. A group of female models appeared wearing slim classic jackets, bodysuits, tights and high heeled shoes and with shiny motorcycle helmets on their heads, all in black.
Raf Simons organised his show at the “Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie” in Paris on the 3rd of July 1998.
The “Kinetic Youth” collection was presented outside, in front of the enormous mirror ball located in La Villette’s Science and Industry museum in Paris. The set refers to the architectural influences in Raf Simons’ life and also to kinetic objects from his youth.
Raf Simons used different songs of David Bowie during the whole show.
The opening part:
The show opened with David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” and the opening part was inspired by the graphic style of “Bauhaus”;
-Clean lines
-Shirts with white/black contrast (different black pleats in the back and black triangle on the front)
-Black wool pants with on the front one, two or three pleats
The second part:
A group of very young teenagers wearing white turtleneck shirts with an “R” symbol, stitched on the collar. Their pants were all in different colours; red, petrol, light grey, mint, beige mêlée, marine…The models walked together in a group on the bridge, on one side of the runway leading to the mirror ball, then to the central building and to the bridge on the opposite side of the first one.
-Inspiration: School Memories, for example gymnastic lessons in uniform, repetition.
-Music: “Life on Mars”, David Bowie.
The global idea behind the last two show parts was the inspiration of the “Rubik’s cube” object; order and disorder of colours.
The third part:
Classic ton-sur-ton outfits with merino wool knitted pullovers and classic suits. This time the pleated pants are light grey, beige mêlée, brown and marine.
The fourth part:
The most important material in this part was the coloured leather. Raf Simons showed mixed coloured outfits, like trashed cutted rock t-shirts in yellow and green, with large leather jogging pants and sleeveless tunic jackets. Colours brown, grey, light grey, aubergine, mint, green, red……
-Music: “Heroes”, David Bowie.
The song of the final part: ”Another brick in the Wall” from Pink Floyd.
The whole group of ca. 60 boys walked quite fast on the runway, but now in the opposite direction. The order becomes a disorder, as in the song: ”we don’t need no education”. Raf Simons feels inspired by youth culture: on one side they are wearing uniforms, but inside they still feel like HEROES, like unique individuals.
9th season, the collection is shown in a Filmstudio “Studio Carrère” on the Avenue du Président Wilson no. 50 in Paris close to Porte de la Chapelle on Friday 29th January 1999 at 09h30 pm.
A little group of teenagers opened the show, with black flags featuring the following words:
DISORDER INCUBATION ISOLATION
These words are important to describe the image of the collection, and it is also a memorial to Joy Division.
The global idea of this collection is to make a reference to the past, specially the first two parts of the show. Fashion goes so quick that people tend to forget the historical meaning of clothes, especially costumes. This is why the opening of the show was like a procession to create the right atmosphere.
The most important part was a group of models wearing black Capes, classical, asymmetric and circle shapes in ¾ length, a variety of design, an other group wearing ceremonial costumes, shirts with cuffs and collar that are removable. The hair was very constructed in sharp lines. The first three groups had black coloured hair. And in the last part the hair changed to blond coloured hair, but still very constructed hairstyles.
The colour of the outfit changed from black to grey. Raf Simons likes plain, black and monotone, but also he likes the past in contrast to the future. The music was in this part very fast.
The blond group was wearing long light grey and dark grey coats with zippers. The silhouettes are very clean: shirts in classical weaving wool fabrics without collars. Nearly each light grey outfit was with a white “R” Turtleneck and the dark grey outfits with a red “R” Turtleneck.
The music of the show:
1 Placebo - ION
2 Suede - INTRODUCINE THE BAND
3 Ultravox - VIENNA
4 The art of noise - INSTRUMENTS OF DARKNESS
5 The art of noise – PARANOIMIA
Both inspired by MENSA students and the kids of gabba (a youth movement from Holland and Belgium, most recognisable by its speeded-up techno music); featuring bomber jackets, kaleidoscopic prints and white leather.
Fashion show at film studios 'Studio Carrère' in Paris.