Raf Simons at Dior!

The word has spread: Raf Simons is the new creative director at Dior! Such an exciting day! While an official announcement has yet to be made by the fashion house, WWD has already reported that "Christian Dior has named Raf Simons its next couturier" and so did  the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune. Raf Simons told Cathy Horyn at the Times that "The first time I heard about the Dior position, I thought "This feels right" ". He added for Suzy Menkes from the Tribune that "It is one of the ultimate challenges, and a dream to go to a place like Dior, which stands for absolute elegance, incredible femininity and utter luxury." An official announcement from Dior is expected today or at the latest tomorrow.

After the luke warm collections presented by Bill Gaytten over the past year, the first Raf Simons collection in July for the Haute Couture shows will be a breath of fresh air! Raf Simons has been acclaimed for his collections at Jil Sanders and with a good reason - he brought back '50s and '60s silhouettes and couture shapes and he  was also the originator of the hottest trend at the moment: the Neon trend. Talking about his third collection at Jil Sander for Fall 2007, Cathy Horyn from the New York Times wrote "On Tuesday, a little-known Belgian designer named Raf Simons had the full attention of the fashion world. Mr. Simon's collection for Jil Sander , his third since becoming creative director 18 months ago, was perfect. It will make everything else, I bet, seem a little contrived, a little clunky, a little silly." Talk about a good review!

He will be the 6th couturier over at Dior after Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré and John Galliano. Lucky number six I'd say! Let's have a look at some of his amazing creations for Jil Sander over the years, starting with the iconic Fall 2007 collection that literally put him on the fashion map (the pictures were a bit low quality back then, sorry for that!) and going up to the Spring 2011 collection that was the trigger of the Neon trend:

Fall 2007

Fall 2007

Fall 2007

Spring 2010

Spring 2010

Spring 2010

Spring 2010

Spring 2010

Fall 2010

Fall 2010

Fall 2010

Fall 2010

Spring 2011

Spring 2011

Spring 2011

Spring 2011

Spring 2011

Spring 2011

Spring 2011

Spring 2011

Spring 2011

Spring 2011

Spring 2011

His designs are so versatile and diverse! What do you think about this move - Raf Simons at Dior? Are you as excited as I am to see what is first couture collection is going to look like?

Photos: elle.com