One of the debuts on the Milan fashion week was that from designer Simone Bellotti at the German fashion house Jil Sander. The newly baked creative director decided to return to the Milan headquarters of the brand, from which he drawn the inspiration for his first collection.
Scroll down for the catwalk look.
The last time that the fashion house showed its collection in its own premises, was under the direction of chief designer Rodolfo Paglialunga in 2017. Since then, the creative duo Lucie and Luke Meier have been at the top of the brand, which was leaving in 2025. Bellotti describes the return to the headquarters in the show notes as “a new beginning”.
The style of Jil Sander, the founder of the fashion house, is characterized by minimalism. This seems to have taken Bellotti to heart. “Is it possible to leave out and leave a personal touch at the same time? Is it possible less more? Is it better to choose directness or sophistication, add strata or remove it, to polish or leave something unfinished?” All of these are questions that the creative director asked.
The debut collection focuses on “purity as a mode, not as a restriction”. Both women’s and men’s fashion appeared on the catwalk. The collection showed contrasts between dark neutral tones with pastel colors and lively colors. A dark blue is combined with red or butter yellow, orange with gray and pastel pink with brown. This honors the brand’s legacy. Sander liked to combine white or black with a strong color. Bellotti decides to expand the color palette a little and to rely more on color blocking.
Simone Bellotti debuts Jil Sander: A new beginning at the Milan headquarters
According to show notes, the silhouettes are “strictly vertical”. A surprise are the small cut-outs, such as cuts in paper. They can be seen halfway up a skirt or just below the waist. A larger hole can be found in one top and two clothes. A large part of the upper body becomes visible, including a bralette. The game with the shape is very subtle in jackets that have somewhat rounder shoulders and sleeves or are gathered on the buttons.
Bellotti’s debut remains loyal to Jil Sander’s legacy. It is not the work of a designer who imposes his personal style of a brand that comes from a completely different direction. This is not about a star designer who brings his fans and entourage to a new fashion house. Rather, it is about someone who respects the history of the brand, refresh it and shows something authentic without much frills.
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