The image of fashion designer Raf Simons crying after his first show for Dior is a GIF for the ages. It’s the perfect example of how fashion — good fashion — is the same thing as good art: it’s capable of moving you to tears. And one of Simons’s greatest strengths is his ability not just to be emotional, but to convey his emotion through clothes.
For these reasons, one might not be surprised to learn that movies and television make Raf Simons cry. In a newly published conversation with the artist George Condo in Interview magazine’s September issue, the two discuss their screen intake. On the subject of culture and fear, particularly the expression of fear through art, Condo reveals that he likes to watch reality shows like Naked and Afraid, where the contestants seem totally vulnerable. Simons, meanwhile, has been watching The Handmaid’s Tale. “Each episode is so good that I find it difficult to stop watching,” he says. “I haven’t felt that way about a show in a while. Not since I watched Twin Peaks in college.”
As for films, it’s no secret that Simons is a cinephile; a high percentage of his collections refer to movies, and he says he often finds inspiration in dark theaters. But his favorite movies are not ones you might expect. “Jaws is number one,” Simons tells Condo. “It cannot be beaten by anything else.”
Well, maybe it can. “E.T. is another one,” Simons adds. “I had to be carried out the first time I saw it because I was crying so hard.”