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Jil Sander

MILAN, June 23, 2007
By Tim Blanks
The venue was illuminated by a misty glow, like an Olafur Eliasson installation, and it was indeed that odd kind of radiance that Raf Simons was seeking with his fourth men's presentation for Jil Sander. He referred to it as "phosphor," where color was pared away until all that remained was a hint of eau de nil or gray or blue to shade his spare three-button suits. The theme of the collection was light—as in bright, as in weightless—and Simons underlined it by layering translucent nylon jackets over shirts, or using leather so fine it might have been paper for T-shirts, shorts, and suits.

And, naturally, everything was shown on the delicately framed models the designer favors. But, lest his concept fade into an ether of preciousness, Simons injected some robust counterpoints in the form of earthy shades of red and green and a voluminous silhouette created by baggy, pleated trousers and shorts. For every piece that featured origamilike seaming derived from his most recent women's collection, Simons also showed a jacket that highlighted stitching inspired by workwear. This confident interplay between the ethereal and the down-to-earth played out to a soundtrack of upbeat techno from Kiki and Vitalic.

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