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Jil Sander

MILAN, June 21, 2008
By Tim Blanks
The disconnect between the runway and reality is the most challenging feature of a fashion designer's job. Most of the time, you can deal with it by being swept up in the aesthetic moment, the carefully chosen soundtrack, the models, their hair and makeup—the aggregate of one's intent. But Raf Simons capsized this easy option with his latest collection for Jil Sander. It was serene, beautiful, enchanting…but I couldn't picture a soul in the clothes. The exquisite precision of the collection felt entirely cerebral, which was paradoxical, given that the fabrics were color-blocked in such a way that a band of jersey, say, would draw a jacket close to the body. A short-sleeved jacket in stretch cotton also defined the torso. Zippers and elastication were used to trim the silhouette, again emphasizing the body. (The ring pulls on the zippers were triangles, squares, and circles, underlining the geometric precision of the clothes.)

How could so much attention to the human form seem so…abstract? Maybe the answer lay in a safari jacket, short-sleeved in suede. Again, exquisite, but perhaps too pure for this world, like the little fluffy clouds the Orb was making music about in the background. Such is the nonpareil niche that Simons has carved for himself. (Base curiosity wonders whether the circular pattern on the shirts was derived from the portholes of the Maritime, Raf's hotel of choice in New York.)

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