"Consumed" was staged in a parking garage, with Raf Simons presenting the collection from a platform built out of crushed soda cans, a deliberately unconventional venue choice that reinforced the collection's commentary on consumer waste and culture.

The Parking Garage Wasn't a Budget Decision

It's tempting to assume an unconventional venue like a parking garage reflects practical constraints rather than genuine creative intent, but that reading misses what was actually happening here. Fashion critic Cathy Horyn's contemporaneous review specifically noted the crushed soda cans forming the platform Simons presented from, a detail too specific and too thematically aligned with the collection's concept to be incidental. "Consumed" was built around consumer culture absorbing and flattening everything it touches, and literally standing the show on crushed consumer waste turned the venue itself into part of the argument, not just a backdrop for it.

Why Venue Choice Functions as Design Language

Runway staging often gets treated as secondary to the clothes, something audiences notice briefly before focusing on the garments themselves. Simons' approach to this specific show pushed back against that assumption. When a venue physically embodies a collection's central idea, consumer waste as literal ground beneath the models' feet, it stops being a container for the presentation and becomes part of the statement itself. That's a meaningfully different creative decision than choosing an unconventional location purely for visual novelty or cost savings, and it's part of why "Consumed" reads as such a fully realized artistic statement rather than a strong graphic surrounded by a conventional show.

Unconventional Staging as a Recurring Raf Simons Signature

"Consumed" wasn't an isolated experiment in this regard, it's one entry in a pattern that ran across Simons' career. For Spring/Summer 2019, he staged a show in a converted warehouse designed to function like a techno club for the night, complete with wheatpasted posters and a Bauhaus soundtrack, treating the space itself as an extension of the collection's punk and post-punk references. Years later, his final Spring/Summer 2023 collection, the last under his own name, was staged at London's Printworks, a genuine nightclub venue, alongside Frieze Art Fair, turning what could have been a somber closing show into a celebratory event bringing together roughly a thousand emerging creatives. Across decades and completely different collection concepts, Simons consistently treated venue as a genuine design decision rather than a logistical afterthought.

How This Connects to a Raf Simons Hoodie's Design Philosophy

This same instinct, treating every element of a garment or presentation as intentional rather than incidental, is exactly what shows up in the construction details defining pieces like a raf simons hoodie. The same designer who wouldn't present "Consumed" in a conventional runway space wouldn't size a hoodie up carelessly and call it oversized either. Both decisions reflect the same underlying philosophy: nothing in the final presentation, whether it's a venue or a shoulder seam, should be arbitrary or default. That consistency across scales, from an entire show's staging down to a single garment's construction, is part of what makes his overall body of work read as coherent rather than scattered.

The Same Intentionality Applied to a Raf Simons T-Shirt

Even his simplest pieces followed this same principle. A raf simons t-shirt from this general period carried the same collage-based, deliberate design approach as the collection's more elaborate statement pieces, refusing to treat a basic garment as less worthy of genuine design attention than a runway centerpiece. That's the same instinct behind staging an entire show inside a parking garage rather than a conventional venue, a refusal to default to what's expected simply because it's easier or more familiar.

FAQ

1. Where specifically was the "Consumed" collection presented? 

It was staged in a parking garage, with Simons presenting from a platform built out of crushed soda cans, a venue choice directly reinforcing the collection's themes around consumer culture and waste.

2. Was the parking garage venue a cost-saving decision? 

The specific detail of the crushed soda can platform suggests genuine thematic intent rather than a budget constraint, turning the venue itself into part of the collection's commentary on consumption.

3. Did Raf Simons use unconventional venues for other collections too? 

Yes. His Spring/Summer 2019 show was staged in a warehouse converted to feel like a techno club, and his final Spring/Summer 2023 collection was presented at London's Printworks nightclub.

4. Why does venue choice matter for understanding his design philosophy? 

Treating a venue as part of a collection's statement, rather than just a backdrop, reflects the same intentionality found in his garment construction, where nothing is left arbitrary or default.

5. Did this attention to detail extend to his simpler garments too? 

Yes. Basics like tees followed the same deliberate design approach as his more elaborate pieces, refusing to treat simpler garments as less deserving of genuine design consideration than statement pieces.

Final Thoughts and Where to Go Next

The parking garage staging behind "Consumed" wasn't a footnote to the collection, it was part of the argument itself, consumer waste literally forming the ground the show stood on. That same instinct, treating every detail as intentional rather than incidental, runs consistently through Simons' career, from unconventional show venues decades apart to the construction details in something as simple as a hoodie. [Check our full breakdown of what the "Consumed" collection was actually about] for more on the concept this specific staging was built to reinforce.