Raf Simons Spring 2023 Ad Campaign Review

Review of Raf Simons Spring 2023 Ad Campaign by Photographer Willy Vanderperre with model Vasko Luyckx

Raf Simons plays the hits with a new Spring 2023 campaign, shot as always by photographer Willy Vanderperre.

Intriguingly and somewhat surprisingly, the styling of the campaign features pieces and an aesthetic that seem to be quite different from those that appeared at Raf’s Spring 2023 runway show. Instead, this campaign pushes signature Simons touches from the whole history of the eponymous label’s existence – which were subtly present at the runway show, but layered under work that reflected his more recent time at Jil Sander and Prada – to the fore.

A mix of refined and distressed, classic and contemporary, industrial and intimate threads its way throughout the styling, expressing the designer’s signature way of bringing a punkish thrill to elevated men’s dressing.

Raf’s go-to photographer Willy Vanderperre takes it all in with the frank gaze of his lens, drawing a spontaneous energy out of model (and fellow Belgian) Vasko Luyckx, who balances the energy with that of a boyish nightclub rapscallion with that of a reformed rogue.

Unexpected in its departure from what we were led to expect from Raf Simons’ final season but fitting in its revisiting of some of the designer’s greatest hits, the campaign is a bittersweet celebration of the end of an era – but a reminder that he still has much to show us.