[tricotineacetat]

I just came back from Berlin yesterday night and wanted to share my thoughts on Raf Simons new secondary line, RAF by Raf Simons which will be launched for the upcoming S/S 2006 season for the very first time.

The collection in itself is very compact and focusses on easy-to-wear pieces from Raf´s repertoire, that is (hooded) sweatshirts (in strong colours such as electric blue, bright green, light blue, washed red and the inevitable melange tones and black) with conceptual printworks/patches with inevitable references of early 80ies rock (á la Joy Division), elongated tank tops that could easily be described as tuniques (again, slashed and printed), some knitwear (rather basic), jeans (either very skinny á la Dior Homme or loose-fitted, but always straight legged - in distressed black denim, white, red or black canvas or almost raw blue denim.

Then came a section of tailored garments, like pleated suiting pants that were very casually made in poplin or cotton gabardine - again distressed and washed to give a casual appeal (these can also be machine-washed due to the fabric and lighter construction). Sharp cadet-style shirts with small collars came either in plain poplin or washed pinstripes or seersucker and featured diagonal darts on the breast (an exact same style was found in the signature line), whereas another one again referenced Punk, with cut-off sleeves, patches and a hood, instead of a shirt collar. Precisely tailored coats and blazers (either one or two-buttoned) stood out nicely from the rest that was much more streetwise, but were again made in casual cotton gabardine or black-on-grey seersucker.

There were also some nice casual jackets, such as a Perfecto made up in soft, distressed cotton, oversized waterproof raincoats as in the mainline and a nicely fitted bomber jacket that was brought from Raf Simon´s archive. There was actually a good part of garments - re-worked Raf Simon´s classics from the archive - that were brought to RAF - such as cut-off sweatshirts, a very oversized sweatshirt-cape-hybrid that was solely held by drawstrings from S/S 2004, a skinny canvas jean with tears in the front and an underlayer of thin canvas underneath, summing up the message that Raf Simons mainline will be heading straight upwards in more sophisticated, yet very experimental and "new" territories, whereas RAF will be the more wearable, young wardrobe to build up on.

Needless to say, most of these clothes could be seen as unisex and can look as good on women as on men, such as the tuniques, sweatshirts and some pants. Production is all made in Italy and should be a good amount less than his mainline collection. Here´s a list of what I had in my selection:


Tank Tops/ T-Shirts: 65€ - 95€
Sweatshirts: 145€ - 245€ (cloak)
Jackets: 350€ (perfecto) - 615€ (coat)
Shirts: 155€ - 185€
Trousers: 160€ (jeans) - 195€ (trousers)

[macchiom]

Thanks for the info. I’m really looking forward to see this!

[Lena]

are those wholesale or retail prices tricotineacetat?
thanks for bringing this in

[_7.]

great... & so interesting BUT i really want to see any photos!

When & where??

[tricotineacetat]

those are actually the retail prices, Lena. Sorry I didn´t specify this in my message

[tricotineacetat]

I guess there won´t be any pictures online so far... the sales manager told me they showed some of the jeans along the mainline during the defilée in Florence, it should be pretty hard to guess which one is actually RAF and which one is Raf Simons.

[purechris]

thank you

[faust]

Why don't I like the sound of this?

[tricotineacetat]

To be honest, I don´t mind Raf doing a secondary line, especially since most of his older stuff was so streetwise that I found it quite hard to sell - Especially when the ones that might appreciate can´t afford it!

I think it´s a good move, the mainline will definitely gain from it and become more sophisticated in order to separate itself from RAF by Raf Simons, whereas I can find more approachable, yet interesting clothes at RAF.

[nqth]

Very good move. I think Warsaw will have this collection :-) The sharp suits, cadet shirt and raincoat sound v. promising.

Many thank for the reports:-)

[softgrey]

thanks tricot...

[nqth]

The site (online soon:-)
http://rafbyrafsimons.com/

[tricotineacetat]

Thanks for the link, nqth

This is actually the printwork of the tunique/tanktop I was talking about... I love it so much

[nqth]

You are welcome, Tricotineacetat:-)

I've got a small badge:-P I didn't know the print will go into the clothes. It's lovely.

[Mutterlein]

I can't wait to see this. I hope it's those skinny drainpipe jeans!