JIL SANDER INTRODUCES “WANDERLUST”: A NEW ERA UNDER SIMONE BELLOTTI

words by NATALIE GAL

Simone Bellotti stepped in as creative director of Jil Sander this March, and we’ve been eagerly watching to see what he’d bring to the table. Now, with the teaser video for Wanderlust, we’ve got our first real taste, and somehow, we’re even more excited.

The video feels both angelic and otherworldly, yet still grounded. It is metropolitan and organic. It nods to Hamburg, the brand’s birthplace during the belle époque of the 1960s. But there’s a youthful freedom to it, that rare feeling of being so happy with something simple, you swear time stops. Brings to mind the spirit of Stephen Chbosky’s line: “And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.”

Music plays a huge role in Wanderlust. Italian electronic musician Gianluigi Di Costanzo provides an experimental, aural soundscape that mirrors Jil Sander’s duality. Tracks on the vinyl EP include: Crystal Ice / Wanderlust / Shades / Night’s Frost / San Peder a Sent / More Light (Escape Mix) / Cresting Waves.

These tracks give a strong hint at Bellotti’s vision. Cosmopolitan poetry and a redefined northern elegance. This isn’t your typical black-and-white minimalism that many associate with Northern fashion. It’s something more fluid, more vivid, more Renaissance. The sound, the mood, the framing, it all hints at what Bellotti might bring to the runway: perhaps lighter silhouettes, fluid tailoring, soft structures. We’re sensing touches of icy, edgy pastels and overall tactile fabrics. We are shifting into a new era of Northern fashion, and JIL SANDER will be defining in these changes.