Edition : First / Antwerp / Raf Simons / 1999 / Hardcover. / Fine 4t0, Unpaginated (ca 42pp). Printed boards as issued. Numerous Colour plates.
Peter de Potter writes: “The series of photographs, collected under the banner ‘Isolated Heroes’, are the result of the collaboration British photographer David Sims and Belgian menswear designer Raf Simons undertook in the summer of 1999. Featured on the pictures are Raf Simons’ models, dressed in his collection for Spring-Summer 2000. Each boy is credited with a serial number and his own first name. ‘Isolated Heroes’ contains both black and white and colour photographs. This collaboration was not a chance meeting. Both Sims and Simons had been outspoken about their mutual admiration, mostly in press interviews. Although the interest in each other’s work developed into a firm friendship, they only decided to work together in the wake of Simons’ Spring-Summer 2000-collection. Originally intented as a work-in-progress, Sims’ photographs of Simons’ models soon became a body of work in it’s own right. The photographs of ‘Isolated Heroes’ were never intended for mere promotional purposes. They even transcend more traditional fashion photography, as they reach for a timeless quality, devoid of signs of the times or traces of trendiness. The pictures encapsulate both Sims’ and Simons’ vision with clarity and precision. The ‘Isolated Heroes’-project deals with beauty, youth, masculinity and the perfect isolation of all these preoccupations.”