Raf Simons Spring/Summer 2015 At Paris Men's Fashion Week

It was impossible to get a traditionally coveted front-of-house seat at the Spring/Summer 2015 Raf Simons show last night. In fact, everyone stood. That was the “no hierarchy” idea behind the seating chart, which had editors, buyers, and photographers crowded together in the taped-off isthmuses of the polished concrete floor. It looked like a maze. The models walked through under a haze of red and green lights, the same combination used on 1970s horror-film sets. Around and around the men went, like atoms in orbit, and with the air of stately undead or preprogrammed sharks on the prowl.

The models’ hair was wetly plastered to their heads and styled with extra-long wisps of extensions that strayed in their faces and seem to say that nothing could distract them from a vague but necessary mission. The heebie-jeebie suspenseful music from Under the Skin—full of heartbeat-like thumps, violins, and bursts of wind—provided the soundtrack to Raf’s collection, which consisted primarily of coats. The outwear—a lot of black, pumpkin, and jewel-red—was characterized by built-in capes, truncated mid-back. Simons badged the coats and sturdy button-downs with his RS logo and an insignia that looked a lot like a hashtag. There were also prints of old family photographs (such as those the from the courtship of his parents, who were backstage), images of astronauts in outer space, Mount Fuji, rollercoasters, koi fish, lifesavers, and that iconically sailing fin from Jaws.

The other big draw here was obviously Japonism, which bloomed on paper-thin long-sleeve tees that resembled tattoos. Our favorite: The beautifully light knit tanks that came in pink cherry blossom and swirling blue Hokusai-inspired surf prints—of which there were fishnet versions, too.

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Photos courtesy of Raf Simons