Anyone familiar with Raf Simons knows of his creative endeavors with brands such as Calvin Klein, Dior, and perhaps his more recent work as co-creative director of Prada. Through the years Simons’ has developed somewhat of a cult-like following, as his time with each label comes with pieces which go on to become cultural moments in and of themselves. 

While he approaches each project in an entirely different, avant-garde direction, certain thematic undertones remain omnipresent. Some can be traced all the way back to his work as a student at the Belgian LUCA School of Arts, recently made available for purchase on Grailed: 

I have no idea how tf they acquired this, but someone on grailed is selling Raf’s senior thesis lmaooo pic.twitter.com/exmk4G1Oct

— [ MarkSabino ] (@marksnotnice) May 24, 2020

For those more attuned to ready-to-wear collections, the work in furniture might seem, at first, an odd departure. Yet Simons’ original pursuits were within furniture, embodying many of the same motifs as later designs. 

The work is entitled Corpo, a reference to corpus, the Latin translation of “body”. Pieces take on a corporeal form of their own, standing on elongated legs, covered with garments resembling corsets. Jan Boelen, Artistic Director of Z33, describes the thesis as modernistic in a traditional way, “Very eclectic with all sorts of material mixed together, like a fashion collection”. The resulting effect indeed resembles silhouettes seen in his current work, an homage to the body in its entirety.

View Corpo here.