Renzo Rosso, founder of Diesel and the OTB group, has appointed Simone Bellotti to head Jil Sander. He seems to be driven by a sixth sense that in the past has brought him to select John Galliano for Maison Margiela, Francesco Risso for Marni and Glenn Martens for Diesel and then for Margiela. As an entrepreneur with a creative soul, but the spirit of an enlightened manager, Rosso was able to maintain his reputation as a talent scout over the years. So who is the new talent, which has just been discontinued for Jil Sander at the OTB headquarters in Bregerze (province of Vicenza)? The brand joined the Rosso company in 2021.
Simone Bellotti was born in 1978, originally comes from Giussano in the province of Monza and grew up in Milan. Since the beginning of his career, he has been keen to experiment and learned where the Dukevolution took place: in Belgium. So it happened that Bellotti joined Antwerp in 2001 as an assistant designer for the women’s collections for AF Vandervorst. The following year he ended up at Gianfranco Ferré, where he worked as a designer for men’s fashion for three years.
In September 2005, Bellotti started at Bottega Veneta and moved to Dolce & Gabbana in April 2006, where he took over the position of the leading men’s fashion designer. It didn’t last long and he already switched to the Florentine brand Gucci in early 2007, where he stayed for almost 16 years until he joined Bally in 2023.
Bellotti debut in September 2023 as Creative Director of Bally
In September 2023, Bellotti had his first start during the Milan fashion week as Creative Director of Bally. This was also the debut by Sabato de Sarno at Gucci and Peter Hawkings’ first collection for Tom Ford.
Less than two years later, the designer is now preparing to take over the creative direction of Jil Sander with the deep, clear look, the inconspicuous style and the friendly smile. He succeeds Lucie and Luke Meier, who have been at the creative tip of the brand since 2017. The duo presented the autumn/winter collection 2025 on the Milan fashion week, which was just finished.
In order to find out how Bellotti will take up the style codes of the brand founded by Jil Sander in 1968, we have to wait until spring/summer edition 2026 in a few months. However, it is no secret that the passion for research drives the vision of the Lombard designer, which relates to his inspiration from art, photography and music.
Meanwhile, Bellotti commented that he was “an incredible honor to join Jil Sander, a traditional fashion house that has created a new aesthetics with its unique approach and strong identity and has always had a significant influence on the design community”.
The designer is not the only one who takes his first steps within the house. At his side is Serge Brunschwig, the new CEO of Jil Sander and Chief Strategy Officer of the OTB Group, who took up his position on February 5.
- Renzo Rosso, founder of Diesel and OTB, has appointed Simone Bellotti as the new creative director of Jil Sander.
- Bellotti has extensive experience with fashion houses such as Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana and Bally and has a solid track record in the industry.
- This appointment marks a new chapter for Jil Sander and raises the expectation of a new creative vision under the direction of Bellotti.
This translated article originally appeared on fashionunited.it.