Designer A-Z

Jil Sander

Spring/Summer 2012

By Emma Sells

Thanks to a run of stand-out collections the Jil Sander show has become one of the most hotly anticipated on the Milan schedule.

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Just what will Raf Simons do next is the question on everybody’s lips. The show space for the s/s 2012 collection was a minimalist white room, adorned only by square panels on the floor filled with gravel in primary shades - Modernism was the starting point for the collection.

Shirt dresses were given a futuristic overhaul, layered or panelled here, tucked and pleated there and teamed with white leather lace-up boots that Paco Rabanne would have approved of, before the stark shirting was paired with more colourful fare. There was a bold paisley that came in colourful, pink neon edged swirls covering trouser suits and shifts, and in black and yellow. There was a purple and pink plaid, made up into silk shift dresses overlaid with printed sheers. And there were graphic cropped sweaters emblazoned with Picasso faces. There was a decidedly polished, 1960s undertone to the silhouettes, the knee length shifts, midi pencil skirts, neat tailored, cocoon sleeved jackets and rolled collars. And even the hair - swept back and rolled under bouffant - and slightly squashed, veiled hats were part space age, part Jackie O. Trust Raf Simons to make fashion’s past look so fresh…