Raf Simons’ latest collection, shown at Pitti Immagine Uomo, was made in collaboration with the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, which approached him to explore a partnership for the Spring 2017 season.

Robert Mapplethorpe is most notable for his striking black-and-white self-portraits, nudes and sexualized still lifes of flowers, as well as shedding light on New York’s underground BDSM scene of the ’60s and ’70s.

Seeing himself as a curator, Simons prominently exhibited Mapplethorpe’s compositions on every single ensemble. The result was a collection of billowing shirts that hinted at the style of Mapplethorpe’s muse, Patti Smith, slanted leather biker caps, and no shortage of black leather jackets and overalls that overtly highlighted the show’s BDSM undercurrents.

photographs; Photo: Umberto Fratini / Indigital.tv, published by vogue.com