Raf Stesmans is a luxury menswear label that breaks the rules of traditional masculinity. He modernizes and refreshes nostalgia, focusing on the seedy and provocative aesthetic of the 1970s and 1980s San Fernando Valley.
Using a rich pallet of colour, Stesmans’ designs capture the sleek sexuality of the youth with powerful openness representing new approachable masculinity. His colourful exposed contemporary seriousness in fashion mixed with the harmony of colour and tailoring is above all else.
Sophisticated cuts and precise design meet’s a daring set of iridescent pinks with the clashes of orange throughout a set of twisted trench coats that scatter the SS20 collection.
His take on the simple men’s traditional clothing and silhouettes is almost a rebellion on how men and masculinity can be seen or worn. Pushing these boundaries breaks the rules of men’s clothing and makes an exciting and forwarding thinking approach to menswear design.
The total effect stresses “creativity before commerciality” and displays a design aesthetic at once channelling images of the past into a strikingly prescient version of the modern man. Raf Stesmans wants to target a more refined cultural consumer. Gender, in both sexual appetites and public expression, isn’t explicit or necessary.