For his final runway collection at the creative helm of Calvin Klein, Raf Simons incorporated cheeky film references, camp iconography, masterful techniques in tailoring, and elements of horror, in a finite show layered with mixed messages.
Staged in the ground floor space of the Calvin Klein headquarters at 205 W 39th Street, the collection’s eerie set proposed a duality between beauty and destruction. Large-scale video screens covering the three surrounding walls played an early scene from Jaws, detailing an unsettled seascape amid an endless horizon, while the runway’s blood-red carpeting suggested the possibility of horror to come; foreshowing, perhaps, the instantaneous demise of the fashion house with its creative director.
As the show commenced, Raf Simons’ film inspiration was on clear display. Models emerged from backstage wearing wetsuits and graduation gowns and caps, direct references to both Jaws and The Graduate, while T-shirts were printed with Spielberg’s iconic film posters, and Mrs. Robinson’s penchant for animal print showed up through dresses, wetsuit linings and cheetah print pants. Simons’ own directorial plot seemingly emerged within the collection’s oversized knit sweaters and the designer’s trademark methods of tailoring. Represented in the variety of sweater styles throughout the collection — ranging from preppy to bohemian — as well as skirts and dresses of varying lengths and fits, were ideas of fashion changing from generation to generation.
While the Jaws theme of man versus nature was eluded to in the collection’s blood splatter patterns, it seems the real theme here was high versus low art. Like Andy Warhol, Raf incorporates popular (or “mass”) culture with the “high art” of high fashion, while the incorporation of popular films, added an air of fun whimsy to an otherwise dark show.

References
- 1
- 2
Damian Loeb
Rayleigh Scattering, 2018

Brigitte Bardot & Bob Zagury
Búzios, 1964

Alberto Burri
Rosso Plastica, 1968

Pol Chambost
Jug, model no. 837, 1953

Marc Newson
Embryo Chair, 1988

Damien Hirst
The Immortal, 1997-2005

David Douglas Duncan
Picasso, La Californie, 1957

Gaetano Pesce
Fauteuil Shadow Junior, 2006

Alber Elbaz
Geoffrey Beene, 1990s

John Baldessari
Umbrella (Orange), With Figure and Ball (Blue, Green), 2004

Louise Bourgeois
Cinque (Detail), 2005

Bruno Taut
Worpsweder Käseglocke, Germany, 1926

Bruno Taut
Home Interior

Bruno Taut
Home Interior

Thom Browne
Spring/Summer 2017 Menswear

Marc Jacobs
Spring/Summer 2007

Vija Celmins
Untitled (Ocean), 1970

Anish Kapoor
My Red Homeland, 2003

References

Damian Loeb
Rayleigh Scattering, 2018
1 of 18

Brigitte Bardot & Bob Zagury
Búzios, 1964
2 of 18

Alberto Burri
Rosso Plastica, 1968
3 of 18

Pol Chambost
Jug, model no. 837, 1953
4 of 18

Marc Newson
Embryo Chair, 1988
5 of 18

Damien Hirst
The Immortal, 1997-2005
6 of 18

David Douglas Duncan
Picasso, La Californie, 1957
7 of 18

Gaetano Pesce
Fauteuil Shadow Junior, 2006
8 of 18

Alber Elbaz
Geoffrey Beene, 1990s
9 of 18

John Baldessari
Umbrella (Orange), With Figure and Ball (Blue, Green), 2004
10 of 18

Louise Bourgeois
Cinque (Detail), 2005
11 of 18

Bruno Taut
Worpsweder Käseglocke, Germany, 1926
12 of 18

Bruno Taut
Home Interior
13 of 18

Bruno Taut
Home Interior
14 of 18

Thom Browne
Spring/Summer 2017 Menswear
15 of 18

Marc Jacobs
Spring/Summer 2007
16 of 18

Vija Celmins
Untitled (Ocean), 1970
17 of 18
