Often the most compelling fashion shows make everything going on in the world dissolve for a brief moment in time while simultaneously delivering a singular and pertinent perspective on the world. This latest Raf Simons collection had a transporting, emotional quality because the people he depicted appeared to no longer inhabit our world yet they dressed as though they were still clinging to some part of it. Departing at Blade Runner—which, it’s worth reminding, was filmed in 1982 and set in 2019—and making other narrative stops along the way (Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go comes to mind), this was Simons venturing beyond his obsession with misspent youth. It was the abduction of youth altogether.
Emerging from a glowing yellow tunnel into a minimalist yellow terrain were several individuals who concealed their hands within muffs, a rather anachronistic accessory. People in 2020 wouldn’t fathom wearing anything that impedes the use of a smartphone. But positioned front and center, they communicated a crucial piece of information about these people, the Solar Youth. If you think this sounds positive, read the fine print: They don’t want you to know who you are. One theory is that they left the earth as children from our past and awoke as an elite community of our future.
This might explain why their attire was at turns elegant, nostalgic, and vaguely sci-fi. Silvery high-neck base layers were visible under the impeccable, imposing military-style coats. Homespun sweaters and scarves were juxtaposed with tubular knits that encased the arms. White boots were pristine to the extreme, and sumptuous outerwear replaced the cliché space suit. Several blazers and collegiate jackets were shielded under clear filmy plastic. If there is no Planet B, you might as well pack whatever you love most.
A tender cover of David Bowie’s “Life on Mars?”—in addition to ominous synthetic pulses and Trent Reznor’s spare scoring—assisted with the designer’s cryptic stance on the season. Was this, as the song goes, his freakiest show? On a hypothetical Simons index of wearability, pretty much the entire lineup was tailor-made for earth. But beaming forth from these looks were signs of dread and defiance. With open eyes but still nervous each time was scrawled atop a muff that read ‘No’ Land. They can’t stop all of us appeared across another. By the final walk, what initially felt like warranted grumbling over the show’s remote location became immaterial. Tell us, Raf, where do we go from here?
