In the untangling of time events are bound together in perpetual continuity. Nothing ceases completely to be what it was, but evolves into something else, son of history and of contingency.

The wave of memories is what gives to the Autumn – Winter 2013 collection by Raf Simons form. The choice to integrate reminiscences from the Maison Dior with elements of his personal experience is the sign of a seek for a dialogue with the great Christian, structured between centuries, underlining matching points and differences in an incredibly articulated collection. This way Dior’s past as a gallerist and his gaze, constantly oriented to the Belle Epoque, are connected to Simons’ interest for modernism, to give new life to iconic designs. The collaboration with the Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts reflects the deep contamination binding fashion to art, either in its most popular aspects than in the less noticed ones, revealed only to the attentive eye. The elegance of art nouveau motifs is shown in the floral embroidery, whereas the pied-de-poule is employed in an unusual way, revealing the open tendency to contemporary changes. Like a stream of thoughts, each garment echoes the other in free association, each embodying a particular moment in life, a memory, connected in a surreal fantasy. Asymmetry, theme explored in the haute couture collection, comes back in synthesis in pieces sharply cut, unleashing the dynamics of silhouettes. Ecleptical proportions are ever more emphasised in the mirroring installation surrounding the runway; composing a dreaming scenography.

The narrative power of memory composes past and present recalling to creative power of fantasy, shaping ever new histories onto her awake reign.