Longtime Raf Simons Stan Leelee Sobieski Celebrates His New York Debut
Next Friday, Raf Simons will take his first bow as the chief creative officer of Calvin Klein, which he took over following the departure of Italo Zucchelli and Francisco Costa. (Zucchelli, like Simons, was an alum of minimalist label Jil Sander.) He’s been slowly building to the much-anticipated occasion, releasing a campaign starring Millie Bobby Brown for the new Calvin Klein by Appointment line. And, in the meantime, he’s brought a dose of energy and excitement to the sleepy New York Fashion Week: Men’s. Simons relocated to New York to take up the post, and his eponymous menswear line came with him. As did a few of his biggest fans: rapper and face of Dior Homme A$AP Rocky, model Natalie Westling, peers Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough of Proenza Schouler, Joseh Altuzarra of Altuzarra, and Narciso Rodriguez (welcome to New York!), and longtime Simons fan Leelee Sobieski, who has been a supporter of the designer since his early days at Dior. She’s had a few years’ practice styling Simons’s designs, so it’s only fair that she should win the front row on this auspicious occasion.
Leelee Sobieski, in Raf Simons, at the designer’s Fall 2017 show in New York, New York, February 2017.
Who: Leelee Sobieski.
When: Wednesday, February 1.
Where: The Raf Simons Fall 2017 runway show in New York, New York — Simons’s first since moving to the city after he was named the successor to Calvin Klein.
What: A Raf Simons Spring 2017 coat, belted as a dress, with brightly colored peep-toe shoes.
Why: On first glance, Sobielski’s belted coat could pass for a vintage Simons-at-Dior piece. In fact, it’s a piece from the Raf Simons Spring 2017 menswear collection, his lauded Robert Mapplethorpe show, with a wide belt layered over the top lending it an exaggerated hourglass shape. The former actress and ’90s It girl completes the look with her hair pulled back and a muted red lip stain — an elegantly understated front row ensemble.
