Jil Sander AW12 PHOTO BY: SPG / Rex Features
Raf Simons is confirmed as creative director at Christian Dior.
The fashion saga of the year came to an end yesterday as Raf Simons was finally named as creative director at French fashion house Dior. Simons will replace disgraced, former creative director John Galliano who was sacked last year for being found guilty of using anti-Semitic insults.
Raf Simons stepped down from his creative director role at Jil Sander this February after six years at the label. He has been hotly anticipated as Galliano’s successor since then, keeping the fashion industry on their toes for a good few seasons.
Simons’ first collection for the iconic fashion house will be shown at Couture Week in July. The Belgian designer said of his new position, “It is with the utmost respect for its tremendous history, its unparalleled knowledge and craftsmanship that I am joining the magnificent house of Dior”. With only five designers including Yves Saint Laurent and Gianfranco Ferré to hold the privilege before him, Simon’s stated that he was “truly humbled and honoured to become artistic director of the most celebrated French house in the world.”
44 year old Simons has vowed to drive Dior’s current ‘Galliano’ aesthetic away from the fashion house, replacing the theatrical ostentation with a return to Christian Dior’s elegant, ladylike style. “My aim is a very modern Dior, but at the end of the day, I also look back,” says Simons, “”I find that period between 1947 and 1957 extremely attractive, and there was a lot of modernity,” Simons adds, “There was the romantic appeal looking back to his mother and the belle époque, but there was also a constant evolution in shape, changing proportions and the ideas connected to the World War were revolutionary.”
Whichever way Raf Simons decides to go with Dior, the fashion industry are waiting with baited breath. But looking at the great things he did for Jil Sander, we’re sure Dior’s future is a bright one.