The Dark Night Rises at Jil Sander
Review of Jil Sander Spring 2025 Fashion Show
By Angela Baidoo
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
Dark summer, natural affinities, elevated interplay
Whoever said summer meant the automatic donning of all-over florals or paintbox brights simply isn’t living in the real world. From climate change upending the traditional seasonal structure to a shift in the way we show up to work. There is also a move towards considering collections with an eye towards longevity, which in simple terms means developing clothing that can become a part of a customers wardrobe for years, despite it being presented within a particular season.
Lucie and Luke Meier’s Jil Sander is one such label who have mastered this. Looking at fashion as you would when buying a piece of furniture or artwork, you are considering how each piece will fit in with what you already own, and will you love it and look after it as something which enriches and excites long after the thrill of the purchase has faded.
Not just the effect of the heavy velvet curtain backdrop, but there was a dramatic slant to spring 2025, even when the looks were rendered in pastels. Roughly half of them were head-to-toe black (plus slate grey and burgundy) or heavily incorporated it. A perfect recipe for true fashion lovers whose love for the inky hue is a well-known inside joke. But the dark mood was actually part of a collaboration with Canadian photographer Greg Girard whose work has provided a window into how Asias largest cities have transformed – physically and socially – over the last three decades. Girard specialises in almost uncomfortable images (by using harsh street or fluorescent lighting to create an ambient effect) of daily life late at night, from motel lobby’s to back alleys and grocery stores.
At Jill Sander they were mainly influenced by the “neon lights dramatising the port and the lonely hearts of a haunting Vancouver” which were captured by Girard from 1972-1982. Superimposed – landscape-style – onto collarless blazers, pencil skirts, and shift dresses they appeared as if cinematic billboards
Luke and Lucie Meier also found the “affinities between different things” could give a “snapshot of real life” according to today’s notes. Merging the casual with carefully crafted evening gowns, and the feminine gathers on a satin dress with masculine broad-shouldered silhouettes, these were the defining elements of their cast of characters. As contrasting as night and day, yet bringing to light the people who may exist on the fringes but still have something of value to teach us.
THE DIRECTION
THE WRAP UP
Looking at life through those who exist in the fringes is to consider the familiar with fresh eyes, and at today’s Jil Sander show there was an imaginative application of the atmospheric, from the dark night images of Greg Girard to the broad sweep of looks in all-black which looked striking against the rest of the softer palette of pastels.
Moving away from the brands minimalist roots, the Meier’s are finding snapshots of reality much more exciting to build upon.
