Raf Simons: Collecting the Archive, Season by Season
Raf Simons trained as an industrial designer in Belgium and taught himself fashion. He showed his first menswear collection in 1995 and built a label on the clothes of youth: the bomber, the parka, the knitted sweater with a graphic, worn by boys who looked as though they had stepped out of a record sleeve. He then ran Jil Sander, Dior and Calvin Klein, and from 2020 until 2025 he worked at Prada alongside Miuccia Prada. In every period he has been the designer that a younger generation of collectors studies, and Japan has been one of the places that kept his early clothes best.
The label's seasons
Collectors speak of his work by season, and by the names of the collections. A handful of themes recur:
- The late 1990s. Slim wool coats, concealed plackets and a refined, almost uniform tailoring; the 1998–1999 Chesterfield coat in black wool and cotton is a clear example.
- The early 2000s. The period of record sleeves, youth culture and graphics, with Peter Saville's imagery on oversized hoodies and sweatshirts. Pieces such as the Closer-period oversized hoodie sit here.
- The mid-2000s. The Icarus period's parachute bombers and the tenth-anniversary Curriculum collection of 2005, with bombers cut for the label's tenth year.
- 2003 padded riders. Double rider jackets in beige and other colours, quilted and cut close.
- Autumn/winter 2014: Sterling Ruby. A collaboration with the American artist Sterling Ruby, whose hand-painted and bleached surfaces ran through coats, knitwear and denim.
Prada by Raf Simons
From 2020 the Prada clothing and footwear carried a joint authorship. The Monolith derby in black leather, boxed, belongs to this period; see Designer Shoes from Japan. Those pieces are the most accessible way into his work.
Reading a label
Raf Simons garments carry woven or printed labels that changed by period, with a season name or code, a size in European numbers (44, 46, 48, 50) and a made-in country. Early pieces were made in Italy and Belgium. A care label that does not fit the season is the first thing to check, because the label is the part of a Raf Simons that is most often replaced on imitations.
Sizing
Early cuts are slim and short, designed for narrow frames; a 48 from 2003 may fit like a modern small. Take the flat measurements and compare them with a jacket you own.
Condition
- Nylon bombers crack at the folds and fade at the cuffs.
- Knitwear bobbles and stretches; check the cuffs and the hem.
- Printed hoodies lose their graphic through washing, so look at the print edge.
- Wool coats should be free of moth holes at the folds.
Japanese grading is explained in Japanese condition ranks.
Why Japan
Japanese buyers have followed Raf Simons since the late 1990s and bought his clothes in the boutiques of Tokyo and Osaka when they were new. They kept them, and as archive prices have risen in the West, Tokyo wardrobes have become a main supply for collectors abroad. The Japanese side of the story is in Japanese Designer Archives.
In the archive now
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