Raf Simons S/S 08

[78]

Did you try contacting the raf offices? Maybe they could let you know which store bought it.

Two emails to two of their staff... no responses...

[poopie boy]

There's a certain balance. I'm not even sure if the more out there pieces sell less than shirts that look like they come from h&m but are much more expensive. What's the point of carrying a designer if you're not willing to push his vision. In civilized areas, shit will sell (eventually).

What about the store's vision? If you look at the collections from designers like Stephan Schneider, Veronique Branquinho and Raf Simons, They look nothing like the way they are displayed by South Willard. The store owner buys specific items from each of the lines and displays/styles them in a way that pushes his/his stores aesthetic.

[2000dB]

What about the store's vision? If you look at the collections from designers like Stephan Schneider, Veronique Branquinho and Raf Simons, They look nothing like the way they are displayed by South Willard. The store owner buys specific items from each of the lines and displays/styles them in a way that pushes his/his stores aesthetic.

You're right. Then they obviously have a very uniform buy which is what I don't like. I personally don't find it appealing and even almost shocking. I probably wouldn't enjoy shopping there as much as I have in other stores in the world.

[Charlie Delta]

I feel like a fucking idiot for having missed this collection until now, I mean I've seen bits and pieces but just now went through the whole collection and it is fantastic, one of the best and most exciting things I've seen in men's fashion in a long time.

Yeah try to dissagree with me!!!

(I'm feel ashamed for having missed this before, I used to keep up with all his shows...)

[goldengloves]

Yea, it was one of my favorites.

But alas, most of the US stores have managed to make a mockery of it by carrying the lamest things available.

(Seven will probably be the only store with things of interest....including the shoes! Yay!)

[thomas_highstreet]

pitty fw shoe was fucking shite.

ill cop the drawstring blazer at some point most probably

[sycamore no more]

dear raf simons,

i wish you made more black clothing in spring. why are like this to me?

love,

jeremy

[chris]

Keep in mind that all but a few kids don't want the garbage presented on the runway show. Cool to look at, awful to wear.

If you ran a business you wouldn't carry what wouldn't sell, I know I wouldn't.

yea, we really need more stores to carry $400 shirts that look like this. that fucking "R" logo and anything its stitched on is garbage.

and i highly doubt that there are only a few "kids" that would consider his more design driven pieces "awful" to wear.

[goldengloves]

By the way, those s/s button down shirts fit like absolute dog shit.

[jet]

yea, we really need more stores to carry $400 shirts that look like this. that fucking "R" logo and anything its stitched on is garbage.

and i highly doubt that there are only a few "kids" that would consider his more design driven pieces "awful" to wear.

Uh oh the superhomos are ganging up on me.

Seeing as how you are the epitome of effeminacy I will regrettably ignore your opinion regarding mens clothing.

[sycamore no more]

on the black velcro leather shoes from this past fall season he used that "R" logo on the very back while he used the original "RAF SIMONS" logo/font on the 2nd velcro strap which i thought was really gay because mixing 2 different fonts just throws off the entire thing. careful careful raf.

[jet]

^That's pretty retarded. Spelling names out on most articles is ridiculous, having his signature R doesn't mean shit really because nobody knows what the fuck it is anyways. I think everyone has become overtly sensitive to brandings but something small and subtle as well as non-ubiquitous isn't obnoxious. The whole name on the other hand...

PS. Raf doesn't wear the stupid shit in his runways.

[Superchief]

lmao i need to stop posting before reading the whole thread. smh @ me. smh @ jet unless he is joking. couldnt you just cop some banana republic instead? also no offense jet but it looks like you're wearing banana republic in all your waywts. if that's what you want to do then cool but man dont insult people just cause they got different style then u.

[Charlie Delta]

Out of pure curiosity, anyone know how much that white perforated pack I posted would run???

[sycamore no more]

if it's the same price as the black one it should be around 550 american.

[Charlie Delta]

Hmmm, alright...

Rather get me the MFSC p-coat then...

This one will eventually pop up somewhere as people realize they can't pull it off (see E-cat...)

[jet]

The perforated pack is 645 cd.

[jet]

i love ryan and his store and everything but your "opinions" literally sound like you are worshipping at the altar of south willard dude. half the shit i read from you is stuff that ryan has said to me almost verbatim. about how he stocks the stuff that raf himself wears, etc etc. blah blah. for the money you could be shopping at hermes and the style would barely be different but you'd have way nicer clothes.

i am also pretty sure you are the dude at SW who bought the APC rugby sweater that fit way way way too small when i was trying on some common projects more than a few months ago when ryan and i were talking about the yet to be opened MMM store that was supposed to be on the DL.

also please cut this "homos" shit out it's really unattractive.

I feel what you're saying and he does repeat a lot of what he says to a lot of people, that's just how he is so I'm not surprised he told you. I love south willard but a lot his recent buys have been disappointing which is why I haven't bought much there or from margiela this season. I don't recall having ever tried on any apc in the past btw. There's also other information that I leave out in my posts so take it with a grain of salt.

[josephr]

I feel what you're saying and he does repeat a lot of what he says to a lot of people, that's just how he is so I'm not surprised he told you.

i'm specifically referring to the fact that ryan said, "yeah i just got all the basic stuff that raf wears himself" to me about what he'd got the first season he started carrying raf. this is then what you're citing when you're talking all crazy shit but then you take it all bro-down like runway shit is for fags or whatever. it is really uncool.

as far as his buy, the only problem i have with it is that with the raf for example, it is far too basic. if he had put in 2-3 less easy pieces i think it would have been great. but as far as merchandising he's got enough expensive bless shit as it is so i guess it would be hard to justify the really expensive black raf things over here and the really expensive black bless things over there. i guess if it's just going to be basics i'd rather see another line in there, not raf simons.

it's kind of how i feel about Atelier in NY. i have always been disappointed becuse they push their own supergoth aesthetic so much when that is not really what the designers they carry are about so much as their own thing. i think it's important for the retailer to respect the brands and allow them to have their own identity in the retail environment, especially lesser known brands such as the ones A has.

slight digression - the CDG guerilla store in LA is so cool because to see all the cdg stuff hanging from different collections together the brand makes so much more sense than it does looking at the collections singularly...there was a lot of diversity. A or south willard could stand to have some more diversity in the buys maybe and still pursue a vision.

[chris]

Uh oh the superhomos are ganging up on me.

Seeing as how you are the epitome of effeminacy I will regrettably ignore your opinion regarding mens clothing.

dude. you're fat and your hairline is receding, so you dont see yourself wearing any of his runway pieces, I GET IT. actually, i commend you for not being one of those fashionista fatties. having said that, you shouldnt go around shitting on raf for being raf. he's not who he is today for putting out those v-neck sweaters with that nasty fucking "R" logo. honestly, if you consider anything not being sold at south willard (i.e anything remotely interesting) to be garbage, then you shouldnt be buying raf at all. but that fact that you do (and lots of it, actually) makes you... what? the epitome of a brand whore?

signed, faggot.

[lithiumsys]

Hahaha, I love chris, so so so so so much

[goldengloves]

Not to derail; But A definitely buys their vision but the brands they carry now fit very well into their own vision. Probably one of the reasons they dropped Raf for this season.

I know Seven NY for example is going to get the velcro boots, sandals, long sweaters, elastic pieces, etc. But their customer base seems to be more into the 'fashion-y' pieces.

I agree with Josephr though. If you're going to carry basics like tees, button downs, and regular suits and trousers, why in the hell would you carry Raf? The store would be much better off dropping the mainline and just carrying RbyR and maybe including a line like Dries, Tim Hamilton, or maybe even Michael Bastian. (Yes, I know they're carrying Dries this Fall..)

[josephr]

also i think part of it is that Raf has always been a hard sell in LA. he used to have a fair number of retailers back in the day - maxfield, traffic, etc. in a way south willard is cutting out a lot of the stuff that wouldn't fly here but if they had a couple pieces they could definitely move them at least in the sale you know?

based on what raf's deal has been in the past with very conceptual collections, and now that he's doing all this design work with multiple lines - what would you guys say the raf simons mainline brand identity is trying to be right now? it's hard for me to tell.

[josephr]

(Yes, I know they're carrying Dries this Fall..)

I didn't know that but that is very cool.

[goldengloves]

I think it's hard for a lot of people to tell and that's why a lot of the shit makes it to sale. Walking through barneys at 60% off there was still maybe 70% of the Raf line left. (including almost all of the knits which really fucking surprised me)

But with that said, I think the reason why it's hard to tell is because most of the stores do not know how to buy Raf, especially here in the US. But look at a store like Park in Vienna, they carry a huge selection of Raf from the more interesting pieces to the basics and they carry whole looks. Meanwhile a place like Barneys or SouthWillard will carry a boring navy or black suit, shirting, and some tight turtlenecks. You get very little grasp on the collection and so it all starts to look boring.

[goldengloves]

I didn't know that but that is very cool.

Yea, it was either that, or Jil Sander. We'll see how that works out....Jil might've been a better bet (probably even more so if they dropped Raf).

[josephr]

Yea, it was either that, or Jil Sander. We'll see how that works out....Jil might've been a better bet (probably even more so if they dropped Raf).

it would be great to see a bigger line of jil basics in sw, that stuff is just so expensive (dries too) it might be hard for an independent store to do it.

[headcoat]

Well this thread certainly got catty.

[minya]

Take the flamewar shit to supertrash.

[josephr]

this shit just really bugs me because the way raf is presented as a line of sub-par basics is the same thing that is being done to the helmut lang brand right now.

raf was critically lauded for his early collections but they weren't good sellers - maxfield and barneys both dropped and picked him up again a couple times if i remember correctly, same with branquinho. for all the press that cloak got from what i understand they didn't do a very good business either (i remember early cloak being at maxfield at the same time as raf).

so now that he is more famous after getting the gig w/jil sander (and helping prada sell the jil sander brand) and separating his line in two it seems that his own brand image is really diluted. with the raf collection it seems like other people rehashing designs from his now-classic collections and with his own mainline i feel like i only ever see bland stereotypically "avant-garde" black stuff along with a bunch of button downs rather than a saleable translation of the collection's theme. (maybe it's because i haven't been to seven in a while)

i keep wondering why it's so hard for 78 to find that split t-shirt he's looking for. most companies are begging for customers like him.