Raf Simons/Sterling Ruby: a new benchmark in the art&fashion category

 

The history of the collaboration between artists and fashion brands goes from Piet Mondrian (Yves Saint Laurent, 1965), Andy Warhol (Yves Saint Laurent, 1974) and Cindy Shermann (Comme des Garcons, 1994), to Vanessa Beecroft (Helmut Lang, 2002), Richard Prince (Louis Vuitton, 2008), Robb Pruitt (Jimmy Choo, 2012), or Gavin Turk (Hussein Chalayan, 2012). However rarely these two distinct dimensions of creativity – fashion and art – have been integrated into each other so well as in the recent collection conceived by the belgian fashion designer Raf Simons and the existentialist american artist Sterling Ruby. And in this case the game has gone so far that “for one season, the brand ‘Raf Simons’ will not exist”, as declared by the Belgian designer. In fact the men collection presented a few days ago in Paris will be named under the brand Simons/Ruby Fall/Winter 2014 and this is something that seems to transcend the traditional “art&fashion” category.

 

From the point of view of a customer going out for shopping, it is hard to say whether the result of this collaboration is successful or not. Similarly if we look at it from the point of view of an art collector – likely he wouldn’t buy a new piece by Ruby for he is collaborating with Simons. However the relation works perfectly if bearing in mind the “information related” system – that is the cluster of information necessary to completely understand the meaning of a certain object of art. In some ways the Simos/Ruby’s episode will influence how both Simons and Ruby’s practice will be perceived.

 

The “Soft Work”, recently seen at Art Basel Unlimited section, wouldn’t be so light, ironic and “cool” without considering this last tribute paid to the artist by the fashion designer (their professional relation dates back to 2008). On the other hand, we are pretty sure that some followers of Jil Sander, or Dior will discover this extraordinary artist. At the same time, just the designer’s passion for fine arts – especially for ceramics, that he loves to collect and then sell at auction – wouldn’t have been enough to bring into focus his ethic side: Simons becomes more similar to Vivienne Westwood or Alexander McQueen then to Miuccia Prada, isn’t he?

September 7, 2014