Milan Fashion Week

Jil Sander, Spring/Summer '09 (scroll down to read the review)
Jil Sander
Raf Simons, with three good years under his belt at Jil Sander, now feels confident that he can show his ‘freedom’, no longer restricted or restrained by the history of the house, now able to break away from the rigor of all that it represents. He has shown us that he can do Jil Sander, some say better than Mrs Sander did.

Simons wanted to show that his approach does not have to be solely minimal. He can therefore take influences, perhaps unexpected at Sander, like Africa, the 1920s, and Brancusi, and ‘bring them into the Jil Sander way’.

Curtains of fringing on dresses and tailoring were pure and evolved from their flapper origins, proving Simons is a true master, and at the same time broadening the offering without forgetting the brand DNA. Further movement and geometry came through slashing seams, resulting in gaps to the surface and in panels that folded back on themselves ending with a multitude of flapping hems.