Raf Simons' Spring/Summer 1997 collection is often remembered as a seismic moment in the intersection of youth culture and fashion, where the rebellious energy of the streets was distilled into a subversive vision of style. This collection, one of his earliest, was a love letter to the misunderstood and the outcasts. The runway wasn't the usual affair—it was a cinematic montage set to Simons' favorite electro tracks, a pulse that matched the urban landscapes where university students ran wild, draped in Simons' angular, minimalist designs.
The film shows these students, fresh-faced and alive with mischief, tearing through the city as though on the verge of breaking free from reality itself. Clad in head-to-toe Raf Simons, the aesthetic captured a raw, unpolished beauty—slim suits, oversized coats, and logo-less pieces that eschewed the era’s obsession with flash. The chaos of the streets contrasted with the sharpness of the garments, underscoring Simons' ability to merge classic tailoring with the unpredictable energy of youth.
At the height of their shenanigans, the students gather at a futuristic beacon, which flickers like an artifact from some lost sci-fi mythology. Here, the mood shifts into something more transcendent. As they circle around, the scene becomes almost ritualistic, the energy electric as if preparing for a cosmic journey. In this moment, the viewer can finally take in the full scope of the collection—clean lines, muted tones, and structured silhouettes that seem both grounded and otherworldly.
The film’s closing moments are haunting. The students begin to spin, faster and faster, their silhouettes blurring into streaks of motion as if being pulled into another dimension. The garments become an extension of their movement, timeless as they transcend the limitations of the world they’ve just escaped. Then, they vanish, leaving nothing behind but a feeling of weightlessness and the echo of a subculture poised to ascend into the future.
Songs played:
Depeche Mode - Blasphemous Rumours
Radiohead - Planet Telex
Heaven 17 - Geisha Boys and Temple Girls
Secluded - Free Your Mind (Mark Broom Remix)
Released alongside Raf Simons’ Spring/Summer 1997 collection, How to Talk to Your Teen by Ronald Stoops and Willy Vanderperre stands as both a visual companion and an artistic manifesto. The book captures the essence of the collection’s raw, rebellious energy while offering an intimate glimpse into the youth culture that inspired it. More than just a lookbook, the project juxtaposes images of university students dressed in Simons’ sharp, minimalist designs with the loose narrative of teenage life—framed as a kind of summer camp for misfits.
Make-up: Inge Grognard, Peter Philips
Photos: Ronald Stoop
Video: Mike Sleeckx, Stefan Verhuyck
Photogravure: Goderrot-Answerseri
Printed by: De Muyter - Deinze
Concept: Raf Simons
Graphic Production: Franky Claeys
