A$AP Rocky Loves Raf Simons So Much, He Even Put on a Fashion Show for Him
The rapper dug through Simons’s archives for his video for “Raf,” his single about the Belgian designer that mentions his name almost 30 times.
There are celebrities like Harry Styles, who’s recently been wearing Raf Simons on his red carpet tour for Dunkirk, and then there are celebrities like Kanye West, who care so deeply about the beloved Belgian designers’s work that he’ll make personal visits to collectors’ apartments to dig into and then wear Simons’s archives.
A$AP Rocky definitely falls into the latter, aka the fanatical, camp. He’s not only turned up to all of the beloved Belgian designer’s major shows as of late, like his debut earlier this year at Calvin Klein, and his namesake label’s debut in New York, but recently professed his love to Simons through a song appropriately titled “RAF.” Along with Playboi Carti, Quavo, Lil Uzi Vert, and Frank Ocean, it also features the word “Raf” no less than 27 times.
This week, though, Rocky became even more of a Rafaelite when he released the song’s music video, which is a grainy nod to a video that served as the look book for the designer’s debut fall/winter 1995 collection. Except, instead of those ’90s pieces, Rocky dove even deeper into the archives, digging up a pink Sterling Ruby collab from 2014, and a parka going back to 2003.
“It’s rare Raf when I wear Raf,” Rocky reminds us while prancing around a white room in a giant blue sweater.
“Do you know how much I’m spending?” Quavo asks repeatedly while bouncing around in a red turtleneck he later pulls up past his mouth. Though Ocean and Lil Uzi’s verses were omitted from the video, Playboi Carti is there to enthusiastically back Rocky up in his constant refrain: “Please don’t touch my Raf.” In other words, there’s a whole lot more dancing, yelling, and general chaos than in Simons’s original video from back in the ’90s.
With a glaring red light in the beginning, Rocky also makes reference to Simons’s spring/summer 2002 show. His relationship with Simons does, after all, stretch back several years to 2013, when he attended one of the designer’s shows for Dior. Most recently, he’s gone backstage at both Simons’s Calvin Klein debut and his most recent namesake label (and standing-only) show in Chinatown, where he then stood next to Marc Jacobs and the designer’s boyfriend. Here’s hoping Jacobs didn’t catch the line in “Raf” where Lil Uzi Vert calls Jacobs his “side b—-h.”
Raf Simons Finally Delivers the Drama New York Fashion Week: Men’s Badly Needed
Raf Simons backstage at his second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
ASAP Rocky backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
A model backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
Models backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
A model backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
A model backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
The scene backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
A model backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
The scene backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
Models backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
The scene backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s, featuring Chinese lanterns bearing Peter Sayville’s designs for New Order.
The scene backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
A model backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
A model backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
The scene backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
A model backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
Raf Simons backstage at his second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
A model backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
The scene backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
A model backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
The scene backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
Models backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
A model backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
The scene backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
The scene backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
The scene backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
The scene backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
A model backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
Models backstage at Raf Simons’ second namesake show, for Spring 2018, in New York during New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
Related: A$AP Rocky, Frank Ocean, and Lil Uzi Vert Love Raf Simons So Much They Made a Song About Him
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