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Raf Simons, made his London debut off-season this year, having had to postpone his fashion week show due to the Queen's funeral. And it was truly better late than never — the Belgian designer built on and brightened up his tried-and-true youth-centric style with ease, and brought a bright energy to the show that revived us after wrapping an exhausting season.
Hosting the presentation in the iconic London club Printworks, DJ-ed by Clara 3000, Simons offered us the balance between super stripped-down simplicity and edgy subcultural iconography that we've seen him hone in on especially over his last few seasons.
There are few designers who can create work with punk rock references and remain elegant, and Simons seems to have the analytical brain built just for the challenge. He understands the ethos of rave culture and channels it into high-quality tailoring and a refined, obviously well thought-out palate that echoes all that is techno without being derivative or obvious.
Though we can't say Simons surprised us in a significant way with the SS23 collection, we're perfectly satisfied. He gave us Raf, he threw us a rave, and he executed what he does well with flying (neon) colors.
We went backstage of the LRS show with designer and founder Raul Solis to talk about rock & roll, emotions, and letting it all out. The collection, his biggest show thus far, plunged into punk style with sequins and electric shock hair styles — and the perfect Garbage-heavy soundtrack. The overt references to Heaven and Hell in the clothing and accessories —see, the unforgettable chrome "crown of thorns" — were made all the more emphatic by makeup artist Allie Smith's playful work, featuring crystal fake blood, dark black tears and Dia De Los Muertos-inspired designs. Though he's never had to try hard to sell us, Solis had us head over heels this time — and by the time he ducked onto the runway after the final walk in a Panic! at the Disco baby tee and studded belt, we were fully ready for fashion's emo era.
How does it feel seeing your clothes walk down the runway right now?
Um, I mean emotional. I’ve been working on the collection for over 8 months, which is the longest I’ve done. And I just wanted to let it out. Just really really wanted to put it out, so yea, it feels emotional more than anything.
You once did an interview where you said sometimes you’re just getting season by season, tell me about the feeling of making it this next season and being an independent designer and just thugging it out.
Yeah, it took me a break to get here. I didn't show last season because I wanted to put all of my energy into this. I had been doing shows for some while and I stopped and so I wanted to focus on making one of the biggest shows I’ve done so far. As far as the number of looks the team behind me and yea it felt more like that emotion and just like putting it out there really.
Can you talk to me about the sequins on some of the looks that I saw...
Yeah, that’s Allie Smith she's a make up artist, and yea I started working with a lot of metal embellishments on the clothes and so she picked that up and then started just doing the face make up to go with it. A lot of what I do derives from counter culture so the idea of having a skull is a very punk sort’ve aesthetic.
And lastly, this punk aesthetic that runs through the pieces you have, you’re currently wearing a Panic at the Disco top, tell me about some of your punk influences...
O.M.G. so Panic at the Disco, right? I mean um, there’s so many. Just so many. And it changes. Sometimes it’s punk, sometimes it's emo. There was a lot of emo references as well if you saw some of the models. It sort’ve changes, sometimes its rock & roll but it always remains in the subversive dark counter culture youth emphasized music really
And what’s your favorite Panic at the Disco song?
le PÈRE, a clothing label as much as a creative community, releases their second collection, titled, “Another Version of Myself - Chapter II” in collaboration with Quartier creators Bráulio Amado, Cherry Kim & Noah Baker today. The collection will include three capsules, one per creator, with the final capsule dropping in February 2023. As we've come to learn of the brand, each piece and each capsule is an opportunity, providing a rich canvas for artists to explore their work through the medium of garments.
For Chapter II, le PÈRE welcomes you to sit (or stand) with worn out loafers on your relatives upholstered couch. The collection embodies moody Americana, with touches of Midwestern aesthetics, from blues and earthy tones to typographic textures and sports-inspired graphics. In the lookbook, models are draped in aesthetics reminiscent of a Southern grandfather's home with religious mementos and mid-century architecture.
Braulio Amado's capsule is the first to launch. He intends to reinvent le PÈRE’s “footballer” (soccer) character in his own childlike interpretation of the graphic: A pink footballer with a ball for a head which, playfully, fell off. 70s and 80s football jerseys inspire the shape of the shirts with a boxy silhouette and cropped fit. His new traditional style includes sweatshirts and t-shirts, manufactured in a luxurious Italian fabric, but draped readily for your next practice.
Cherry Kim, inspired by Korean wrestling matches of childhood memories with her father and grandfather, will be the second capsule to release in November 2022. The nostalgic homage of a “wrestler” graphic will be hand drawn on organic cotton t-shirts, hoodies, and sweatpants in tan, white, and red, some with a le PÈRE logo stenciled on. The collection, however, is not limited to athletic wear. Le PÈRE introduced trousers and button downs in the Cherry Kim capsule to add formality and structure, as a father would, to the release.
Noah Baker, as the third and final capsule to be released in the collection, offers a research of texture and typography in the use of weather maps for jackets and shirts in opposite colorways. His designs, inspired by the barometric pressure systems, inspire a vibrant pattern of repeated prints on iridescent fabric to be released in February 2023, as the third capsule to complete the collection.
In addition to the three-part launch, an eponymous fragrance will be released in November 2022 “to stimulate all of the senses,” and we can already smell it.
The three capsule collections will be available on lepere.com and neimanmarcus.com.
POV: You stumble out of some corner bar at four in the morning smelling like an ashtray because you knicked ten cigarettes off some random guy who bought you drinks the whole night, the remains of your last Vodka Soda are still visible on the glistening fabric of your ultra-short dress, and your feet are dying because you haven't broken in your platform stilettos — you feel absolutely great.
The message of the just-founded brand Miss Nothing Apparel is pretty clear: Do whatever you want and look extremely hot while you're doing it. We talked to the co-founder about the prudeness of office attire and why everything is not too deep in the end.
What’s your position at Miss Nothing?
I am the co-founder of Miss Nothing and I design it with a couple of my friends. It's more of a collective thing, but I'm the one behind the actual business plan.
I heard you want to stay anonymous. Why did you choose to not show your face or your name?
I think since Miss Nothing is a brand for people who go ahead with being reckless and doing whatever they want to do, it's a good move to not associate the brand with a single person. I think it's fun to have that sort of pod of mystery.
How many people are in the collective, then?
It's literally just my friends. The thing is, when I'm talking about the collective, I can go on a night out, and it could be 4 am, and I'm in the smoking area, and I speak to random people about dresses and stuff like that. I'm like: “Hey, do you like this?” and they respond with “Oh it needs to be shorter”. And I'm like, “great!” This is the collective - drunk ladies, gay guys, and anything in between.
It's always the case that you meet the best people in the smoking area.
How did you get the idea to launch Miss Nothing?
There was this one time when I went to Paris with my friends, and we were actually working on something completely different. We missed our Eurostar train and decided to just get drunk instead. This was by the way like 9:30 am. So we got really drunk, and we had all these suitcases with loads of designer clothes, like Prada and MiuMiu dresses. We decided to just to a random shoot, but the clothes were all very much Granny vibes — they were so fucking boring. Then we thought let's take the dresses in and let's clip up the back because we wanted them to look skimpier. I was wondering why none of the high fashion designers is making skimpy dresses anymore. I feel like you can only buy skimpy dresses on Pretty Little Things, Zara, or H&M. My idea for Miss Nothing was to make a brand that's somewhere in between luxury and high-street, where you can get an affordable dress that's mini and “slutty”.
Some of your dresses have “MySpace Whore” or “No Morals” printed on the front. What does a life without morals look like?
I think it's definitely still being a good person. I'm not trying to encourage any rude behavior. It's about doing whatever you want to do. If you're drunk at 3 am and you want to get more then, why don't you? If you see a hot guy, or hot girl in the club, just get on with them. Who cares if you have a boyfriend? Life is short so you might as well just go for it. I don't want people to wear those dresses to a club, I want them to wear those dresses to the office. That's what I’m trying to convey. Why should you have morals about what and where you wear what. You should just be free to do whatever you want.
So, do you just want to reinvent office wear then?
I mean, kind of. You know I will come in a mini skirt at 9 am, and everyone's staring at me like I had done something wrong. It's a normal thing. I'm just trying to normalize being a “slut”.
Do you think people in the UK are too conservative still?
I mean, yeah. I feel like the brand is basically LA-inspired. It's what people would wear by the pool. But like, why should they wear it at the pool? I do think that the UK is very conservative. It's not as conservative as some other countries, but people are boring here.
Can you draw a picture of the typical MNA girl?
I think that she is - you know that's actually a tricky question. The Miss Nothing girl is like any girl. Anyone could be a Miss Nothing girl, you know? I think it's more about buying into the concept of freedom and buying into the concept of you can do whatever you want to do whenever you want to do it. You just have to be reckless in order to be a Miss Nothing.
Why is the brand called Miss Nothing Apparel?
It's inspired by a song from Taylor Mommsen’s band The Pretty Reckless called Miss Nothing. She's played such a huge role in my life as little J in Gossip Girl. So, I just thought Miss Nothing IS the brand. She's definitely been a huge inspo for me and the brand.
I definitely see the parallels between peak little J and a reckless girl in an MNA dress. But do you think the urge to wear "slutty" dresses is also a response to being forced to wear sweatpants for almost two years?
I mean, kind of but not a conscious one. But I’m also tired of what's in the shops because every single high-fashion brand comes out with a sweatpants or hoodie collection. It's great to be comfortable but you can also be comfortable in a mini dress. So why choose sweatpants?
That's such an interesting take because people do not associate mini dresses as comfortable necessarily.
Well, no pants are the best pants, I guess.
Exactly! There's nothing digging into you, there's nothing uncomfortable. You're just wearing a little bit of cotton with a flower. It's comfortable. Will you be cold? Probably. Just wear a jacket.
I mean, bitches never get cold.
That's such an interesting take because people do not associate mini dresses as comfortable necessarily.
Well, no pants are the best pants, I guess.
Exactly! There's nothing digging into you, there's nothing uncomfortable. You're just wearing a little bit of cotton with a flower. It's comfortable. Will you be cold? Probably. Just wear a jacket.
I mean, bitches never get cold.
That's such an interesting take because people do not associate mini dresses as comfortable necessarily.
Well, no pants are the best pants, I guess.
Exactly! There's nothing digging into you, there's nothing uncomfortable. You're just wearing a little bit of cotton with a flower. It's comfortable. Will you be cold? Probably. Just wear a jacket.
I mean, bitches never get cold.
Was there anything that impacted the collection in some way as in people, movies, eras, or subcultures?
It's mostly people and the type of person they are. When I was doing the whole thing and coming up with the concept, I was genuinely just thinking about myself being drunk and the choices I would make whilst being drunk. You know sometimes when you're sober, and you think "Am I gonna go for a black eyeliner? Hm, no." But I'm two margaritas down, and then, obviously I'm gonna go for black eyeliner. It's more about being inspired by people and their choices when they're drunk or people that I've met. Also, I listen to a lot of cunty music, so it's very much about the vibe that gives me, and I think about a person that would dance to this music wearing our clothes.
Your clothes cater right into the bimbo, hot delusional smart bitch scene. Is “slutcore” here to take down the patriarchy?
I mean, I hope so, but also, I'm making a dress at the end of the day. I'd say whatever happens happens. But yes.
In one of your images, a girl is sitting on some guy's shoulder, looking really fierce and seductively into the camera. Where does feminism overlap with being a "slut"?
It's all about the empowerment of women. That is kind of the whole point. You just wear what you want to wear, because you don't want to be affected by other people's opinions. Especially not by a man's opinion.
Was there anything that impacted the collection in some way as in people, movies, eras, or subcultures?
It's mostly people and the type of person they are. When I was doing the whole thing and coming up with the concept, I was genuinely just thinking about myself being drunk and the choices I would make whilst being drunk. You know sometimes when you're sober, and you think "Am I gonna go for a black eyeliner? Hm, no." But I'm two margaritas down, and then, obviously I'm gonna go for black eyeliner. It's more about being inspired by people and their choices when they're drunk or people that I've met. Also, I listen to a lot of cunty music, so it's very much about the vibe that gives me, and I think about a person that would dance to this music wearing our clothes.
Your clothes cater right into the bimbo, hot delusional smart bitch scene. Is “slutcore” here to take down the patriarchy?
I mean, I hope so, but also, I'm making a dress at the end of the day. I'd say whatever happens happens. But yes.
In one of your images, a girl is sitting on some guy's shoulder, looking really fierce and seductively into the camera. Where does feminism overlap with being a "slut"?
It's all about the empowerment of women. That is kind of the whole point. You just wear what you want to wear, because you don't want to be affected by other people's opinions. Especially not by a man's opinion.
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