Jil Sander, the Meiers take a long, slow ovation

If, as most people believe, the designers of Jil Sander, Luke and Lucie Meier, are about to be replaced, they certainly have left Germany’s most famous fashion label on a high note.
 

A bold blend of sharp tailoring, punchy effects, unusual material mixes, and urban chic was an admirable final collection in their tenure at Jil Sander, a house founded in Hamburg in 1973.
 
Staged in funeral black, with two narrow runways beneath black-curtained walls, in dim undertaker’s light, the mood and the collection were somber as one entered from a sunny Wednesday morning at Milan Fashion Week. 

That said, the clothes often dazzled, from pink shard dresses to metallic silver plissé cocktails. The design duo’s big idea was plastic shard skirt dresses—cut like techy Pacific Island chic.
 

In a co-ed show, the guys appeared in Edwardian coats and blazers bristling with cock feathers and biker leather suits in electric blue, while a series of coats for men and women featured ingenious degradé coloring, beginning in black and fading into bronze, then white at their high funnel necks.
 

Considering that Jil Sander was once dubbed “the Queen of Less,” this felt like a very distant “More is More”—especially the shoes: hyper-studded and spiked winklepickers and brothel creepers. There was nothing minimal about them.
 
In truth, the house of Jil Sander has had an erratic history since the founder departed in 2004 after repeated clashes with then-owner Patrizio Bertelli of Prada. Ownership changed hands several times, including to a vulture fund, before being acquired by OTB and its chairman, Renzo Rosso, the Italian billionaire founder of Diesel, in 2021.
 
However, for several seasons now, Renzo Rosso has been openly expressing his desire to make Jil Sander into an Italian Hermès with an edge. This collection was far from that. Indeed, if one could fault Luke and Lucie Meier for anything, it was that the collection, with its sharp lines and exaggerated finishes, felt more targeted at critics than clients.
 
Three weeks ago, Rosso named Serge Brunschwig from Fendi as Jil Sander’s new CEO, underlining that change is on the way.

That said, the Meiers can leave Jil Sander with their heads held high, even if they took a long, rather mournful tour of the catwalk to some well-earned applause. Their seven-year tenure featured several excellent collections that were among the half-dozen best in fashion in certain seasons—no easy feat to achieve, rest assured.

For the future, the current favorite to replace them at Jil Sander is Daniel Lee of Burberry. Stay tuned as the career carousel that high fashion has become takes another turn.