Raf Simons is moving his show to New York

Today Raf Simons has revealed that he’s moving his show to New York. Come February, the designer be staging his AW17 show as part of the CFDA’s New York Fashion Week Men’s, instead of Paris Men’s Fashion Week. 

While the designer didn’t specify a reason for the move, it could well be because of his new job at Calvin Klein – as the brand’s newly chief creative officer, Simons will be spending a lot of time in New York, the location of the Calvin’s HQ. 

Simons’ decision will represent a big moment for New York Fashion Week Men’s which, up until now, has been one of the less feted menswear weeks. At the February shows, Simons will join NY mega brands Michael Kors, Coach and Tommy Hilfiger, as well as some of the city’s emerging designers like Gypsy Sport and Landlord.

Of course it isn’t the first time Simons has showed out of Paris – last season, in fact, he staged his show in Florence as part of Pitti Uomo. The event saw the designer debut a collection inspired by the work of transgressive photographer Robert Mapplethorpe: models donned leather biker hats and belts worn as chokers, as well as garments actually printed with his photos.