Raf Simons was born 1968 in Neerpelt, Belgium. He graduated in industrial design and furniture design in 1991. In 1995, he becomes a self-trained menswear designer in a radical change of profession and launches his Raf Simons label. Between 2000 and 2005, he works as head professor at the fashion department at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna.In june 2005, Raf by Raf simons is released.Although they are impeccably cut and created with love and care, clothes are not at the core of Raf Simons’ universe. More important are attitudes, moods and statements. That is why music, art performance, images and words have an important role in the whole package. Together with the clothes, those elements sum up, or rather clarify the kind of world Raf Simons wants to project. In an attempt to examine today’s men’s and boy’s psyches (and the same take his own), he takes his inspiration from the rebellion of the past and blends this with notions of tradition and roots.Simons has many ways to avoid the trappings of the fashion system, most notably the choice of his models. Disagreeing with the common images of male beauty and identity forwarded by most fashion magazines and advertising, Simons from the start of his career only used non-professional models, often scouted on the streets of Antwerp or other Belgian villages. 

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