Raf Simons On How The Relentless Pace Of Fashion Is Killing Creativity

Raf Simons has a habit of asking questions when he is answering one, but the queries are mainly directed at himself as he sifts through the validity and merit of what he has just said. This verbal tic provides an insight into the workings of a great creative mind – inquisitive, insistent, informed – that has helmed a much-lauded menswear label for 21 years as well as directing the houses of Jil Sander and Christian Dior. The Belgian fashion designer stepped down as creative director of Dior womenswear last October after a three-and-a-half-year tenure and his departure seems to have put a spring in his step. He is relaxed and upbeat as he talks me through the latest additions to his range of fabrics for the home, an ongoing collaboration with Kvadrat.

“Its DNA is very attractive to me,” he says of the Danish textile manufacturer. “I was already working with its fabrics in my fashion collections so the relationship has evolved organically over time. I actually started this just before Dior but it didn’t see the daylight until much later because we took more than a year for the first development. There’s no hurry. It’s very different to how things work in fashion right now. Of course everybody’s happy if it’s successful, but not once have [the Kvadrat team] ever said to me, ‘this is our expectation’. Never. They believe in me, I believe in them and it’s a marriage. It’s in their nature to collaborate with creative animals.” Read more at The Telegraph.