I recently decided to do away with the pictures on this site- well, THEY’RE BACK. And onwards: RAF. His A/W 09 and SS 10 collections were poorly recieved by many of the journalists and stylists I spoke to after the shows. The product just showing up in stores now is a little… muted, a little hard to love compared to the riotous. BUT. A/W 10 heralded a promising return and, who’d have thought it, some of the best work for ages comes from the somewhat undervalued diffusion range, Raf by Raf. Don’t call it a comeback…
TAKE A GOOD LOOK. There’s a message there about layering, and all the possibilities it offers. There’s COLOUR. The biker jacket comes with patent-ish, thin plastic coated arms. NOTICE how lots of the looks feature ties (something Raf brought back for A/W 09, controversially), but it’s not immediately noticeable. There’s something about colour in there- in fact, there seems to be something in the water about WEARABILITY being an actual trend in and of itself for A/W 10.
It’s good styling and excellent-looking product. NOTICE the black and orange neon snowflake gloves; totally preppy, made modern by the contrast in textures. LOVE how the sleeveless biker’s been layered. BE INTRIGUED by the cropped nylon tops, one of which seems to feature in the last look above- a serious WANT, this outfit seems to incorporate a buttoned-up plaid shirt over a contrast-sleeve denim jacket, under a crop top, under a sleeveless clip-fastening bomber jacket. CRAZY- also NOTICE the hair- I’ll take that fringe, thanks.
There’s also Raf Simons Fred Perry A/W 10- remember, he’s signed on for another 8 or so seasons of this:
NOTICE the disappearing (or displaced) Fred Perry logoes. The stripes possibly referring back to Raf SS 07. The colours on the sweaters tastefully referring those velcro patches on the A/W 10 mainline show. Which brings us neatly to the A/W 10 mainline shoes…
The filled-in arches. The Velcro straps. The CUTAWAY ANKLE! MENSWEAR might just have to go and have a lie down.
