Raf Simons is offering Tokyo’s most dedicated collectors an unprecedented opportunity to own a piece of streetwear history, perhaps even that elusive holy grail.
The Belgian designer has collaborated with Dover Street Market Ginza to stage an extraordinary stock and archive sale, spanning nearly three decades of collections, documentation and collaborations, including pieces from recent seasons.
Simons will make a personal appearance on the opening day, 29 December. The sale continues until 18 January, with new pieces introduced each week.
“This is a unique chance to acquire a piece of fashion history,” the brand confirmed in a release at the weekend.
As co-creative director of Prada since 2020, Simons closed his signature brand in 2022, which only intensified the hysteria surrounding such rarities as bomber jackets from his autumn 2001 ‘Riot, Riot, Riot’ collection, which have exchanged hands in recent years for as much as $47,000.
For the Dover Street Market Ginza event, Simons has handpicked pieces from that seminal early show, his ‘Kollaps’ collection for spring 2002, designs created in collaboration with American artist Sterling Ruby and pieces from his ‘Twin Peaks’ show from autumn 2016.
Among the archival objects on offer are a box set of VHS tapes of Simons’ first nine shows; early invitations, including the ‘Black Palms’ record album for the autumn 1997 show, and original lookbooks, photographs, posters, books and other printed matter.
Simons has long enjoyed an enthusiastic following in Japan, and previously operated freestanding boutiques in Tokyo and Osaka, designed in collaboration with Ruby and British artist Roger Hiorns respectively.
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