Raf Simons will become creative director at fashion brand Calvin Klein. Thanks to his outstanding work at Dior, the Belgian fashion designer has already been on the American fashion house's radar for a long time.
It was a challenging task, but Calvin Klein has appointed Raf Simons as its new creative director. When the Belgian fashion designer left Dior at the end of last year, and Calvin Klein had a management reshuffle, the rumour mill started racing. The American fashion house considers Simons to be the ideal person to give the brand a new élan.
The idea is for the minimalist style of the Neerpelt-born designer to put Calvin Klein fully back on the map again. Simons will take on both the men's and women's collections, and will conceive fashion shows from scratch.
With his focus on sobriety, Simons took the French Dior label to new commercial heights in recent years. The sales revenues of this fashion brand rose by almost fifteen percent with the Belgian at the helm. Simons started there in 2012.
He had previously made a name for himself at Jil Sander, and also wowed the fashion public with the collections from his own brand. Despite this, Simons was not destined to become a fashion designer. He started as a furniture designer with various galleries, where he met the renowned Belgian fashion designer Walter Van Beirendonck, who inspired Simons to start designing clothing.
