Raf Simons

Born in Neerpelt, Belgium, Raf Simons trained as an industrial designer before being mentored by Walter Van Beirendonck. He launched Raf Simons menswear in 1995, defining a youth-cult, post-punk silhouette that influenced two decades of menswear. He served as creative director of Jil Sander (2005-2012), where he restored the German minimalist house's commercial footing; of Dior (2012-2015), where his three-year run delivered the cult Dior couture book and reframed haute couture for the Instagram era; and of Calvin Klein 205W39NYC (2016-2018), an Americana art-collab project that won every CFDA award but was cut short by Calvin Klein Inc. In 2020 he became co-creative director of Prada alongside Miuccia Prada — a rare dual-leadership model. He closed his namesake label in 2022 to focus on Prada.