Bringing sleek to the streets. Raf Simons' youth culture-inspired, elegant tailoring

Poetic, elegant, and free-thinking, Raf Simons is one of the most exciting designers working in fashion today. His passion for music, art, and contemporary culture infiltrates everything he does. A former industrial designer, Simons first burst on to the scene in 1995 with the launch of his menswear label. His trademark slim tailoring and penchant for street-casting his models went on to shape an entire generation and cemented his position as one of the most revolutionary contemporary menswear designers. Simons was appointed creative director of Jil Sander in 2005; during his six-year tenure he repositioned the brand at the height of the luxury market, not only satisfying the German label’s loyal fanbase, but also recruiting a legion of new fans. Simons’ appointment as artistic director of Dior in 2012 caused frissons of excitement in the fashion industry and marked the beginning of a momentous new chapter for the Belgian designer. In this stunning photographic book, i-D celebrates Raf Simons’ own menswear label, his work for Jil Sander, and his new appointment of Dior. Simons’ first two highly anticipated collections for the Parisian house, together with an exclusive interview, are all included.

Delving deep into the i-D archive, the large format 120 page portfolioincludes stunning imagery from photographers including Willy Vanderperre, Sølve Sundsbø and Alasdair McLellan, together withinterviews by Terry and Tricia Jones, Holly Shackleton, Jo-Ann Furniss,and James Anderson.

The editor:

Founder and Creative Director of i-D magazine, Terry Jones started his fashion career in the 1970s as art director of Vanity Fair and Vogue UK. Since 1977 his Instant Design studio has produced catalogues, campaigns, exhibitions and books, including TASCHEN's Smile i-D, Fashion Now 1, Fashion Now 2 and Soul i-D.