Resort is a sort of prelude to Jil Sander’s spring (shown after the fact), where the Meiers embraced a darker, edgier tone. Hints of this shift started to emerge here, marking a departure from the enveloping sense of cocooning seen in previous seasons. Shiny fabrics, glossy leather, and sharper, more angular silhouettes —the designers were after high-contrast and tension. “Last winter it was more about sheltering into your own self-protective world,” they said. “Now it’s more about confronting reality, because there’s a lot of reality happening around us.”
For the lookbook’s images, shot in a transitional between-rooms area with an artificial light that dissolved any sense of time, the Meiers looked at the work of Canadian photographer Greg Girard. His neon-hued, after-dark frames of urban landscapes influenced the use of slick surfaces that reflect tonality, as in a coated canvas with a papery effect crafted into an oversized trench coat, or the brown leather with a nocturnal sheen used for a three-piece suit.
The Meiers have brought their own elegant yin/yang gesture to Jil Sander, creating visuals that read as a point of rest between opposing forces. Here their interplay was echoed in a series of edgy dichotomies: the delicate contrasted with the tough in a dress whose bodice, densely encrusted with pearls, evolved into an elongated black leather midi skirt. The fluidity of a shell-pink draped long dress with cape sleeves was set against the density of strong leather pieces; and cloud-like cotton organdy was crafted into a trapeze shift finely embroidered with tiny sinuous ruffles, which set off a sharp-cut white tuxedo coat with satin lapels.
The symmetry between pretty and tough gave the collection poise, yet the vibe was definitely assertive. “It’s nice to offer people who appreciate our clothes a message of strength, so they can feel a bit tougher,” noted the Meiers. In times of hardship, fashion can convey a spirit of resistance.
