Raf Simons Joins Prada

by SHOWstudio on 23 February 2020

Dreams really do come true- Raf Simons is joining Prada as co-creative director.

Dreams really do come true- Raf Simons is joining Prada as co-creative director.

This morning as Milan Fashion Week comes to a close, Miuccia Prada called a press conference where she confirmed the rumours which have been swirling as of late- Raf Simons is joining Prada. Unusually, the Belgian designer will work in equal partnership with Mrs Prada as co-creative director, beginning 2 April 2020.

When Prada presented broad shouldered silhouettes and graphic knits for menswear A/W 20 last month, there was a sense that Raf Simons was close by. Miuccia Prada has been in the industry over 70 years and the younger Simons has long been on her radar- it was incidentally the Prada group that brought Simons on as Jil Sander's creative director in 2005. Following the pair's conversation for System magazine in 2016, where they light-heartedly swung about the idea of swapping brands for a season, A/W 20 show-goers wondered whether the collection foreboded Miuccia Prada's exit with Simons as her replacement. Simons told System: 'Maybe fashion should operate more like a museum, where you have a museum curator, but you have guest curators come in, too. I think that the fashion business has recently stopped exploring its own possibilities; it should become much more liberated once again', to which Mrs Prada wholeheartedly agreed.

Although the writing may have long been on the wall, the announcement Simons will join as co-creative director is a welcome surprise, we get to keep the best of both designers. Simultaneously, Simons will continue with his eponymous label, but will have no involvement in Prada's sister label Miu Miu. 'The partnership, encompassing all creative facets of the Prada label, is born from a deep reciprocal respect and from an open conversation – it is a mutual decision, proposed and determined by both parties. Conceptually, it is also a new approach to the very definition of creative direction for a fashion brand – a strong challenge to the idea of singularity of creative authorship… As times change, so should creativity' a statement from Prada read. The stellar pairing leaves the industry beside itself in anticipation of the duo's first collection in September for S/S 21 womenswear, as they broaden the horizon for what fashion houses can be.

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Raf Simons

Raf Simons is a Belgian fashion designer.
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Prada A/W 20 Menswear

Creative Director: Miuccia Prada
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