Jil Sander – the saga as it continues
Here is a recent article penned by Bridget Foley of Women’s Wear Daily…WWD. Someone is actually taking a stance and inks what’s not so correct about this weekend’s goings ons with Raf Simons exit and Jil Sander’s return….
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Raf is out, Jil is in.
Today is Jil Sander’s first official day back at the house that bears her name. Let’s hope her third tenure there is handled more gracefully than the debacle of the past few days, when news of the shake-up erupted just in advance of Raf Simons’ last show.
Simons leaves — more correctly, he was unceremoniously dumped — at the top of his game. A designer of women’s wear neither by education (he studied furniture design) nor first sartorial vocation (he started in men’s), in 2005 he took over a house in distress after some bad decisions — including the one by its founder to sell into a situation, which, in retrospect, would almost surely lead to a clash of personalities — and turned it around, at least creatively. He made it not only relevant again but essential.
Under Simons, Jil Sander became one of a handful of fashion’s must-sees. His clothes have been consistently provocative, vibrant, thoughtful. And gorgeous. His past four collections — culminating with his breathtaking tour de force on Saturday — have been some of the most exciting and important by anyone in recent memory.
This dismissal is inexplicable to me. A matter of commercial viability? If these clothes aren’t salable, I’m sad for fashion. In her comments to WWD on Monday, Sander invoked the need “to break rules, if there is a good reason. Now is the time to be daring, there are few new ideas.” A good number of fashion’s recent good ideas emerged on Simons’ runway, notably the modernization of classic couture elements and their infusion with a sporty attitude.
Sander also said, “I feel that the spirit and enlightened development of basics has a lot to do with the future of fashion.” Agreed. Up and down the food chain, basics will always form the core of most people’s wardrobes. But at the luxury level at least, such basics should provide background for greater fashion. If the passion, thirst and — bottom line — market for such fashion no longer exists or is endangered, then why do we all sit on our fannies at these shows for four weeks straight, spending lots of corporate money along the way? So brands can build their fragrance businesses? Basics, even the toniest ones, can now be seen to fine advantage on Ed Filipowski’s Digitalfashionshows.com. If fashion’s future lies primarily in basics, is the advanced designer species robbed of its raison d’être? Should the sensible, savvy creative director move in and take over?
But I digress. That’s a different, if related, topic for a different day. My point here is twofold: First, I just don’t get this change. Second, it was handled badly. On point one, how many shows are genuinely memorable by season’s end, let alone into the future? Oh so few, and Simons’ percentage over the past few years is sky-high. Yet of the industry comments I read in WWD Monday, most (except for those of Anna Wintour, Ken Downing and Linda Fargo) veered highly political, toward “The King is dead! Long live the Queen!” making me think I’m in a minority. Why? Weren’t some of the respondents among those who left Simons’ shows gushing?
Back to the commerciality issue: Was a proper infrastructure ever installed at Jil Sander? I don’t know. There have been mentions of the company’s inability to build an accessories business. Was that essential support in place? Though one bum handbag does not a production crisis make, I wonder. At Christmas, I bought a glorious Sander runway bag, only to discover that day that the handle leather had split. A production issue; not a design issue.
On point two, let’s assume that for whatever reason, Onward Holdings Co. Ltd. and Gibò Co. SpA decided it was time for a change. It’s their right. No matter how talented, respected or productive one has been within the workplace, as well-employed people from Tom Ford to Peyton Manning know, we all serve at the discretion of management. Perhaps, despite her prolonged absence from the workaday realities of luxury fashion, Sander’s abrupt availability after her split with Uniqlo was too enticing to resist.
That doesn’t excuse the clumsy handling of the change — even given that the press, primarily my dogged colleague Miles Socha — was all over rumors that started percolating weeks ago. Where did they come from? I have no idea, but their escalation just might have had something to do with Sander strolling openly around Première Vision, and, when asked why by WWD Japan, responding that the announcement of her next project would come during the Milan collections.
It’s hard to believe that this longtime master of the Garbo technique didn’t consider that silence (or just not being there in the first place) might be golden. Surprising conduct from Sander, who loves to project elegance of behavior. (Nor is it her first suspension of such; when retailer Janet Brown, who was among Sander’s first and most impassioned U.S. champions, died, Sander refused to contribute to Brown’s obit with more than a one-line comment.) Knowing well in advance that fall 2000 would likely be her (first) last show at the then Prada-owned company, Sander orchestrated it to the nines, the presentation calm, the audience “intimate” and her show notes offering words of fortitude. She’d been able to write her own exit scene; she wasn’t blindsided. As it turns out, with far less time for psychological preparation, Simons’ show, and the spontaneous audience outpouring, felt genuine and moving. No matter. It’s surprising that Sander would act with such apparent disregard for another designer.
The chapter may be written, but not the book — or books. Sander may have a lot of fabulous fashion left in her. We know Simons does. Here’s wishing them both all the best.
Jil Sander – the return.
Raf Simons showed his last collection for the house of Jil Sander this past Saturday afternoon. He exits the doors of the company Sunday. It is the most beautiful collection he has executed for the brand since he took of the creative director reins in 2005. This collection will be marked as his most beautiful collection. This collection will be lauded as one of the top collections of this season, no doubt in my mind, by the press and the retailers worldwide. This collection will be remembered as one of the brands most beautiful collections under any of the creative directors in its history… including the founder herself. Tuesday, Jil Sander, said founder, returns to the house that she started in 1968 in Hamburg, Germany.
The last twelve years have been tumultuous for this brand. Jil Sander sold 75% of her company to the Prada Group in 1999. She left a year later when strong wills clashed between her and Patrizio Bertelli. Milan Vukmiravic followed without much success and Jil returned for a second try with Bertelli in 2003. This time she lasted 1 year and a half. Enter Raf Simons who respected the DNA of the brand but was able to launch it into the future. Each season, his collections were adulated by the press and he had a great thing going. In that time, Prada sold the company to Change Capital Partners who in turn has sold it to Onward Holdings Co. of Japan in 2008.
Has there been too much change? How will the customer react once again? Will they care? Jil Sander is reportedly between the age of 68 to 69. How long can it last this time? A lot of interesting questions come to mind with this next chapter about to be unfold. All to be seen come next September when Jil Sander presents her “first” collection her third time around.
The rumors continue on what Raf is up to next. The #1 lead is the Dior creative director post. It’s not a new rumor… this one has been around for months, but no one is talking. Some have said it’s an unlikely fit but with Raf’s exploration into modern couture with the Jil Sander collection… doesn’t all seem that far fetched now, does it? Dior has sworn that nothing would be announced until after this season’s runway show after 2 March.
It is fashion week here in Milan… the newest most horrid rumor heard today on the streets is that with Jil Sander returning to the helm Monday, all traces of this last collection shown by Raf Simons will be erased. It will not be produced or shipped. NADA. If true, it would be outright cruel to deprive the fashion world of this collection and a not so nice slap in the face. This is only rumor of course. A wicked one it is and may there be no truth to it…. we await to hear more! To be continued…..
Jil Sander – Raf Simons’ graceful bow
Raf Simons has shown his final collection for Jil Sander. He’s leaving his post as creative director after six and a half very good years. Loved by the press and major retailers, his finale was a very emotional event. This collection was his very, very best. A study of grace, unimposing but strong beauty and modern elegance. He opened with a series of clutch coats and thereafter… beautiful dress after beautiful dress. He opened with a soft palette of dove grey, blush, and pale mocha and then agitated the line up with a swipe of lipstick red. That broke the calm and he headed into blacker territory but always with the same grace he started with. This will be one of the top picks of all the collections this season. Trust.
photo: Marcus Tondo / gorunway.com
New York Fashion Week… now we’re talking
Let’s hear it for the fearless. Those who are not afraid to toe the line of “out there.” I’m always more taken by collections that are strong and have great thought put into them. Two prime examples are Gregory Parkinson and Creatures of the Wind. Two collections where the ideas spin at will but are very alluring. Sometimes on the verge of too much, but my attention has been grabbed. Things are looking up as we hit day 4 of NYC fashion week…
I’m ready and raring to go. Two days of NYC Fashion have come and gone… and this is what they give me to work with?
Costello Tagliapietra
Sorry for my absence. A bit underwhelmed and even less so inspired. Since fashion weeks of September and October 2011, I have not had much to say. There used to be those good days when I got out of a show or a showroom appointment and all I wanted to do is write and share. There have been mornings during fashion week where I’ve been so inspired, moved or awed by what I’ve seen, that the moment I get out of bed, I’d sit and I type out an entry drooling about what I’ve seen and experienced the previous day and happily skip breakfast to do so before heading out to my first meeting.
It ain’t been the case as of late. Can I blame it on the world economy? Dismal business conditions? A.D.D.? Creative dry spell? Retail flatline? Fashion fatigue? Maybe it’s not one thing but a combination of all of them. Is fashion in a funk or is it just me? There are a lot of question marks in this paragraph. I think that kind of explains things a bit. We’re in a period where business is a bit challenging to say the least. Trying business has always had a direct effect on creativity. When creativity is dampened, it affects the outlook of retail buyers/bloggers. Their outlook and forecasts become less enthusiastic. On top of that, when the customer is less than enthused, it’s just a dark hole that’s hard to climb back out of.
CELINE - photo DChen – March 2010 Tennis Club de Paris
It’s time to break out of this ho-hum. I’m looking to get my groove back so I hope the CFDA, British Fashion Council, Camera Nazionale della Moda and the Fédération Française de la Couture are going to back me up and get their charges to give us something I can’t help but write home about.
YSL - photo De Wildenberg/Sipa – 1998 Stade de France
Thanks to Nancy Dalva for the little nudge and idea for this post…..
The end of an era – Merce Cunningham
The Merce Cunningham Dance Company is in Paris, performing for the last time in The City of Light, their home away from home. The French have always embraced Merce’s work more so than anywhere else in the world. The Company is in its last weeks of their Legacy Tour that began in February 2010 after the passing of Merce in July 2009. After Paris, the Company performs its last 6 performances back home in New York City at the Park Avenue Armory, the last being on New Year’s eve. The company will disband after this final performance and the dancers will go their separate ways. Merce’s works will live on through the Cunningham Dance Foundation.
Anna Finke, wardrobe supervisor and costume designer for the Company’s last performance in New York, has a great preview write up on Vogue.com . The famous unitard makes its last turn at the Armory. These unitards are printed with a series of photographs taken by Anna from the top floor of the Westbeth studio, home to the Company for about four decades. This unitard has had many incarnations, but these designed by Anna will be the last impressions……….ever.
photo courtesy of Thomas Prior and Vogue.com
Sarah Burton’s collection for Alexander McQueen was one of the top collections of this season. Her feminine details and focus on the tiny waist created the most beautiful silhouettes. The movement created by the soft ruffles and peplums were influenced by the movement of jellyfish swimming in the sea as there was a definite oceanic vibe. Sarah Burton’s woman is a goddess…. soft, gentle and beautiful in appearance but don’t mess with her. She has the capability to sting when provoked.
( And as if there weren’t enough blind rumours flying about this week in Paris with designers being plucked from one house to another. The latest is that Ms. Burton is being courted to start her own label. We’ll see…. )
photos courtesy: Marcus Tondo / GoRunway.com
Yohji Yamamoto’s Spring Romance
Yohji Yamamoto is back to his romantic old tricks. Beautiful flow of fabric and draping for the feminine side of his woman and boyish tailoring for the masculine side.
He opened his show with the most beautiful gown in an intense blue violet color with a train covering half the length of the runway. He was in a less somber mood for the upcoming spring as he played with both the feminine and masculine looks. The tailoring was closer to the body and was the fresher side of the collection.
In the end, Mr. Yamamoto, who is the master of designing for both sides of his faithful fans ended up marrying the two harmoniously.
photos: DChen
Lanvin – Alber’s devilish side
Alber Elbaz has a dark side. The s.s 2012 Lanvin collection he showed Friday was one of his best. He managed to bring a bit of the devil into his beautiful world. The one key element ( other than the dark more sinister styling ) was his new small but important shoulder he quietly slipped in that provided a newer silhouette. It worked beautifully. Shoulder pads can often appear cartoon-like but in this case…. you felt strength and confidence.
What was equally surprising was that the man known for his dresses made a true stab at “sportswear.” He’s more limited in this area but what Alber was able to conjure up worked well to propel this collection forward and give the Lanvin woman something new to look forward to.
photos courtesy : Yannis Vlamos / GoRunway.com
