The Belgian designer has just been announced as the label’s new chief creative officer. Here are our predictions for his collections to come.

To understate things a little: the style world was somewhat shocked when Mr Raf Simons, celebrated Belgian fashion designer, announced he was stepping down from his position as creative director of historic couture house Christian Dior in October 2015. (A decision somewhat explained by the wonderfully frank 2014 documentary Dior And I). Since then, tongues have naturally been wagging about what Mr Simons, who also helmed minimal luxury brand Jil Sander to much acclaim between 2005 and 2012, was going to do next. Now we know for certain (and don’t have to just take it from various tipsy insiders we’ve bumped into at parties) – that he’s been tapped as the new, and somewhat militaristic-sounding “chief creative officer” of iconic American institution Calvin Klein, thanks to an announcement from the brand on social media this afternoon.

Interestingly, according to a statement from Calvin Klein’s CEO Mr Steve Shiffman, Mr Simons will not only oversee Calvin Klein Collection, the high-end line that shows in Milan and New York twice a year, but “unify all Calvin Klein brands under one creative vision” – that is, lend his skills to the Calvin Klein Underwear and Jeans franchises, which have recently been reacquired by the brand. In short, we could be about to witness a feat of re-branding akin to Mr Hedi Slimane’s work on Saint Laurent in 2012. But what will it look like? It would be churlish to speculate, of course. But that doesn’t mean we won’t. Scroll down for our (gentle) predictions of where Mr Simons may take the new Calvin Klein.

In his collections for his own line, Mr Simons has veered back and forth between the rebellious, anti-fashion stylings of his post-punk-filled youth and the rigorous, somewhat severe military tailoring espoused by his soldier father. Whenever he comes back to the suit, however, he tends to add another twist. Here, in his SS05 collection, he proposed a sharp grey suit with pristine white sneakers, proving himself somewhat ahead of his time (we at MR PORTER only just ran our recommendations on this topic last year). But he’s also shown sleeveless jackets with frayed shoulder seams, suits with neoprene attachments, and a range of subtle, but graphic alterations of the classic tailored silhouette. Given that Calvin Klein’s menswear was largely built on a series of ultra sleek suits, this is very fertile territory for a designer who has already introduced much newness into this perennial wardrobe favourite.

Mr Calvin Klein was one of the driving forces behind the 1990s minimalist trend, an aesthetic that was reflected not just in his pared-back, but sultry collections, but also his stark, studio-shot advertising campaigns, shot by Messrs Richard Avedon, Mario Sorrenti and Bruce Weber. This could be very comfortable territory for Mr Simons, who launched his eponymous brand in 1995, at the height of the minimalist movement, and subsequently demonstrated his knack for crisp, graphic austerity in his debut collection for Jil Sander in 2005.

Has any designer since Mr Roy Halston Frowick –  the dandyish chap behind cult 1970s label Halston – done more for the rollneck than Mr Raf Simons? This elegant (and, we admit, sometimes challenging) garment has been a mainstay of the designer’s efforts ever since his earliest shows in the mid 1990s (the example above is from AW08). Does it have any particular resonance for Calvin Klein? Well, not especially. But we’re guessing there will at least be a few kicking around come AW17.

One of the narratives that has been drawn out of the Calvin Klein brand in the past decade, under the stewardship of women’s designer Mr Francisco Costa and men’s designer Mr Italo Zucchelli, is utilitarian futurism, with collections often featuring Ms Zaha Hadid-esque architectural shapes, technical performance fabrics and even a dash of the odd metallic now and then. Mr Simons, too, has dabbled in this aesthetic, most notably in his elaborate sneaker designs (both for his own brand and in collaboration with adidas Originals), as well as a string of space-worthy garments such as the graphic-panelled, wide-collared anorak from AW10, above. Do we have lift off?

Though Mr Simons is undeniably a big fan of black and white – many of his collections have been nigh-on if not completely monochrome – in his later work at Jil Sander, he proposed bright, acid colours as a new kind of minimalism, fielding bold, colour-blocked outfits alongside bright prints redolent of 1960s Op Art. It’s a thread that has continued to run through subsequent collections, and could provide an unexpected reaction to the heritage (and typically grey-ish) world of Calvin Klein, should he want to introduce something of a shock to the system.