As day one gets well under way, James Tregaskes reports on Raf Simon’s menswear for Jil Sander in Milan
Raf Simons is a sort of menswear god – come on, even Eastpak drafted him in to inject some of “that” into their designs. But on day one of Men’s Fashion Week it was his designs for Jil Sander that had the fashion pack chomping at the bit. Cue frantic writing in notepads and bitten Bic biros and that was just me!
This was a collection of simplicity as ever, but high in luxury and careful tailoring. With an opening of black, black and more black it was the fit and cut that shone bright. The first look, a single-breasted black velvet overcoat, with its pinched waist created an hourglass figure with a nod to a bygone era. Suits were sharp as ever but with gentler shoulders, occasionally with larger than average lapels.
Thankfully this wasn’t an all black collection, the inclusion of herringbone, wools, sherling and hand-knitted jacquards that resembled close-ups of something under a microscope or a spliced semi-precious rock kept things varied. Those cinched waists continued to rollout under the soundtrack of Portishead’s “Machine-Gun” in a minimal yet at the same time highly detailed collection.
