‘A beginning is a dialogue’: Simone Bellotti reveals a first glimpse of his vision for Jil Sander with an EP and music video

‘A beginning is a dialogue.’ So reads the introduction to ‘Wanderlust’, a music video and EP released today by Jil Sander, serving as a teaser for Italian designer Simone Bellotti’s upcoming tenure as creative director of the house (his debut show will take place in September 2025).

Bellotti, who was previously creative director at Bally (and before that Gucci, where he was a member of the design team for 16 years), was announced as the successor to Lucie and Luke Meier in March. Though relatively low-key, his Bally became a favourite with fashion insiders for his just-off-kilter riffs on wardrobe archetypes, shot through with a sense of whimsy and play (perhaps his most memorable design was the ‘Pathy’ loafers, a nostalgic play on the boat shoe decorated with studs).

‘Wanderlust’: a first look at Simone Bellotti’s tenure at Jil Sander

The ‘Wanderlust’ project, though, seems to signal a more esoteric side to the designer: focusing not on clothes but music, it features original compositions by Italian electronic music producer Bochum Welt. ‘His mix of aural electronic experimentation and sentimental dance has an affinity with the Jil Sander duality,’ says Bellotti, noting that he wants to present a vision of the brand that is ‘emotional, both visually and aurally’.

Alongside the seven-track EP, a Sean Vegezzi-directed music video for the song ‘Wanderlust’ transports the viewer to Hamburg – the city in which Jil Sander opened her first store in 1968 (her vision of reduction and minimalism would go on to spawn an international label that defined 1990s style, detailed in a recent monograph, Jil Sander by Jil Sander). Shifting between lingering shots of the German city’s industrial portlands and more bucolic scenes of nature, the video aims to capture the feeling of juxtaposition at the heart of the label. It’s ‘the face-off of strictness and lightness, rigour and abandon’, says Jil Sander of the film, which was art directed by Christopher Simmonds.

In it, a series of protagonists, wearing – presumably – Bellotti’s early designs for the house, weave their way through the city. Looks are reminiscent of Jil Sander’s own tenure at the house: crisp white shirts and ivory pencil skirts, navy knits, and a simple sleeveless pullover. For now, it is too soon to predict whether this will be the gist of the September collection, but it certainly feels like Bellotti is keen to take Jil Sander back to its roots.

A physical event also took place in Hamburg, seeing a series of the tracks performed live at OHG Hamburg, a former factory that now serves as a local cultural hub (with its poured concrete floors and lofty ceilings, the brand said ‘[it is] a space that embodies a refined minimalism that aligns with Jil Sander’s signature aesthetic’). In a statement from the brand, Bellotti confirmed that music would play a part in his vision for Jil Sander going forward.

For the musically curious – or those collectors of rare, one-off fashion ephemera – vinyls of the EP will be available at Jil Sander boutiques, jilsander.com and Kudos Distribution, an independent music distribution company that operates internationally, later in August.

Watch Jil Sander x Bochum Welt ‘Wanderlust’ below.