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Milan Opens with Amiably Amish Jil Sander

If men’s fashion has any leading colorist, the designer who sets the agenda when it comes to the hues and colors fashionable men will chose to wear is Raf Simons, who presented his latest collection for Jil Sander on Saturday, Jan. 15, in Milan.

Bitter lemons, buttery salmons, metallic oranges and bright lichens were among the hues served up by Simons in a slick presentation staged in the Sander’s Italian headquarters on the opening day of the fall 2011 Italian men’s shows.

Reinventing a fashion label is always a tricky proposition for any designer, maybe especially so for Simons, a Belgium-born talent who sense of street theater and avant-garde shapes are not exactly next door to the classically minimalist DNA of Sander. But his ability to self-edit and hone his aesthetic to Sander’s aesthetic has been pretty impressive.

For next winter Simons wants Sander consumers to don lean suits, ideally in a quirky wool, so rough one would more normally expect to find it on a Scottish crofter than a cool Continental. Trim pants and jackets cut ever so slightly crossed over all made for a great silhouette.

But the designer’s big idea was using padded and stitched “waffle” nylon fabrics in micro-collar shirts, V-neck surgeon tops and understated dinner jackets. Simons paired them with all sorts of ribbed knits, layered sometimes in triplicate, again in the understated color palette.

Adding to the fresh sense of the collection was the setting. The entire backdrop and runway were made of brand new, fresh pine plywood, kept clean by plastic sheeting that was meticulously taken off by a team of attendants who wore shoes carefully wrapped in nylon, the better to ensure the virgin state of the setting.

The subtly of Simons' palette did recall the sort of colors one finds in the ecclesiastical robes of High Church bishops. Though when asked about it, the designer replied, “Religious, yes a little, but Amish actually. The collection was not really inspired by any specific idea or thing. But the colors were a little Amish.”

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