milan - jil sander - fall/winter 2008

JIL SANDER
to infuse an auster minimalist collection with a sense of movement, while retaining its sharp rigidity can seem like an impossible hurdle. raf simons faced that challenge at the house of jil sander by a surprisingly easy answer. he asked the tailors at the house to work on the dresses, and the dressmakers to takle the tailoring. the result of this collection was a presentation of coats with stand up funnel neck collars that framed the face in a delicate way, and dresses with darts that held the body in place by interweaving lines moving around the form. since acquiring the job as creative director for jil sander, raf has approached his job with the eyes of a menswear designer looking towards the future. a talent that makes him aware that precision in cut is the only way to maximize the effect and longevity of the clothes. in a house like jil sander where most of the revenues are on the garments itself and not accesories, raf becomes the obvious choice because his designs are not born out of flights of fancy but intellectual functionality that provides its working customers clothes that are appropriate for work and fashionable at the same time without looking like a walking billboard for the brand. which explains the obscene amount of serious fashion journalists and buyers swathed in his clothes. these are clothes for people for whom fashion's purpose is an extension of oneself, not as a status symbol.


photo: style.com