Lucie and Luke Meier pursued a darker, more powerful vision at Jil Sander today. Backstage they called it a reaction to the world environment. There’s an almost inescapable only-the-strong-survive quality to our current moment, so it’s somewhat surprising to see fashion leaning into prettiness. That was more or less the Meiers’ position last season, when they focused on swaddled shapes and feminine gestures. Their response this season seemed to have been tweaked for the harsh realities of our time.
They took their cues from the work of the Canadian photographer Greg Girard, who was in the audience. His images of 20th-century cars and motel rooms appeared as prints, the former on a boxy shirt and pencil skirt and the latter on a caban and matching shift that complemented the show’s carpeted runway. Girard’s neon-lit nighttime photos also informed the collection’s palette, from the iridescent suiting for men and women that opened the show—jackets and pants (or shorts) matching shirt and tie—to the glossy brake-light red of a trench that came near the end. The tailored silhouettes had echoes of the 1940s and ’80s, fashion eras of outsized proportions; this was especially true of the double pleats and loose shape of the pants, but they managed to create a vibe without looking too retro.
Talk of dark forces aside, the Meiers made room for light, softer elements. These took the form of a couple of dip-dyed shirt-and-skirt sets, a pastel midi-dress featuring scrolling decoration, and rib-knit separates with curving hems trimmed in little beads. They still have an eye for the handcrafted touches they were more intent on pre-pandemic, too, as seen in tops for both genders with inset crochet panels and three-dimensional floral embroidery.
As for the Lonely Hearts pendant necklaces and a man’s sweater stitched with those same words? Maybe they spoke of an inner tenderness; under our hard shells there are sensitivities of all kinds. That’s what the final look, a bouquet-printed glossy black raincoat, appeared to be saying: I’m strong but also soulful.
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