Jil Sander Is Giving Serious Fashion Some Soul
Come for the slouchy pilot coveralls, the zip-pocket flight pants, and the billowing silk parachute capes. But stay for the precise tailoring, the glorious Japanese tweeds, and the intelligently layered outerwear. Jil Sander's fall line is full of garments you want to wear, fabrics you long to touch, and functional design gestures that will make your life that much easier—like interior straps for carrying your parka when you get too warm.
Two years into their gig as joint creative directors of the Milan-based luxury house, power couple Luke and Lucie Meier are hitting an impressive stride. Especially considering this is their first time working together in an official capacity and they are under no small amount of pressure.
The company was founded by the Queen of Less in her hometown of Hamburg, Germany, in 1968. By the '90s, the label was reshaping fashion by stripping away ornamental flourish and reducing clothes to their most essential forms. Minimalism was the move, and Jil was the master. She remained at the label through 2013—with an eight-year hiatus beginning in 2004, when Raf Simons took over as creative director. That's a mighty hefty legacy, but the Meiers appear to be shouldering it with ease.
“[Jil Sander] had been a reference for us for a long time,” says Luke, who cut his teeth as head of design for Supreme before starting his own brand, OAMC, which he continues to run today. Lucie's background includes high-level design gigs at Dior, Balenciaga, and Louis Vuitton. “We'd been fans of the brand for a long time and have watched it evolve.”
Under the Meiers' direction, Jil's aesthetic legacy remains apparent, but their aim is to infuse the collection with something more human: “A bit of soul,” Luke says. “And a bit of emotion to things that are quite pure in design.” The looks on the fall '19 men's runway (their first solo men's show) are mostly monochromatic and streamlined, but they emanate a relaxed, street-savvy cool—the apparent result of the Meiers' unique backgrounds, which combine couture-level luxury with red-hot hype.
So how do they do it without putting their marriage in peril? “People ask, ‘What happens when you don't agree?’ ” says Luke. “But what's really great about working together is that you're two people with a very aligned vision and goal. There's twice as much energy pushing toward that than there would be if you were just on your own.” They divide the job equally, working in tandem across categories, with Luke's perspective naturally guiding the menswear, while Lucie's personal vision is infused directly in the women's. “It makes things quite enjoyable,” she says. Lucie's parents run a restaurant together, so they have role models for merging business and life. “When things are good, we share it together,” Lucie says. “And when things are hard, we have the tools to get through it. It's also the trust—to have somebody always with you that you fully trust, and you know he's the best in the world.”
A version of this story appears in the Fall 2019 issue of GQ Style with the title “3 Labels on Fire.”
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Originally Appeared on GQ
