Jil Sander x Bochum Welt: Wanderlust Ad Campaign

Review of Jil Sander x Bochum Welt: Wanderlust Ad Campaign by Art Director Christopher Simmonds and Video Director Sean Vegezzi with models Pauline Schubach, Lauren Huyskens, Colin Otto, and Ojo

Jil Sander’s latest campaign, Wanderlust, marks the first creative project under new Creative Director Simone Bellotti, with art direction by Christopher Simmonds and a music video directed by Sean Vegezzi. Featuring models Pauline Schubach, Lauren Huyskens, Colin Otto, and Ojo, the campaign also introduces an original seven-track EP by Italian electronic artist Bochum Welt. Launched ahead of Bellotti’s runway debut for the Fall/Winter 2025 season, Wanderlust signals a thoughtful evolution for the brand—one that shifts away from traditional fashion imagery to embrace music and mood as central storytelling devices. It is a measured creative risk which reimagines Jil Sander’s minimalism through a more esoteric approach.

Set against the moody, contrasting backdrop of Hamburg—the birthplace of Jil Sander’s—the campaign unfolds as a journey through the city’s industrial harbor and natural corners. The video plays with contrasts: tensions between stillness and chaos, day and night, cityscape and nature, reflecting the brand’s ethos of heightened simplification paired with emotional complexity. The styling nods to Jil Sander’s minimalist roots with crisp whites, navy knits, and pared-down silhouettes.

Wanderlust succeeds in translating Bellotti’s vision of Jil Sander as a house defined by contrasts through carefully paced visuals and a compelling soundtrack. Bochum Welt’s electronica complements the imagery perfectly, adding an evocative layer that elevates the campaign beyond a typical fashion film. The choice to foreground music over clothing introduces a refreshing, multidimensional strategy that could help the brand carve out a unique cultural space.

With Wanderlust, Simone Bellotti sets the tone for his tenure at Jil Sander—not through flashy visuals, but by weaving together place, sound, and emotion into a quiet, compelling narrative. This campaign is less about fashion as product and more about fashion as experience, suggesting that the brand’s next chapter will be one of introspection and sensory storytelling, rooted firmly in its minimalist origins but open to new expressive dimensions.