Fashion - Jil Sander

A minimalist German fashion designer

classic - elegant - and....timeless

My favorite Fashion Designer

- since she started with her shop in Hamburg 

just around the corner from where I lived -

is certainly....

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Heidemarie Jiline 'Jil' Sander, born in Wesselburen, Schleswig-Holstein,

grew up with her mother and later studied textile design in Krefeld

from where she graduated as a textile engineer in 1963.

Having spent two years as an exchange student

at University of California at Los Angeles,

she worked as a fashion editor at German women's magazine Petra

before opening her first boutique in Hamburg 1967, being 24 years old.

She started out selling fashion designed by Thierry Mugler and Sonia Rykiel

and also a few of her own designs.

And, with few ups and downs, she founded her eponymous fashion house,

Jil Sander GmbH in 1968.

***

 Showing her collection in Paris in 1975 proved a complete failure, though.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s,

when the fashion world was dominated by lavish,

colorful and glitzy Dynasty-style designs by the likes of

Claude Montana with his broad-shouldered leather look,

Jil Sander's minimalist collections,

with a focus on fabric quality came close to a revolution in the fashion world

and were not accepted next to the Parisian catwalks.

Here style only started gaining attention in the 1990s.

***

During the 1980s

we customers were sent twice a year a 'Fashion Folder'

to give us a first impression of the forthcoming collection.

Luckily I kept a few

from where I scanned some pictures to share.....

Jil Sander's trademark look, a contemporary, somewhat odd, New Look

-originally intended for women conquering executive positions in the 1980s-

was that of a precisely cut pantsuit...

..a slim blouse..

...and a form-fitting coat..

...made of luxurious fabrics...

...in beige...

..in plain grey...

...in blue...

...in black or white.

***

Jil Sander enjoyed almost cult-like followings for her fashions

that could all be easily coordinated

and have always ranged in the top price segment.

For her single-minded focus on understated elegance..

...high-end materials...

...and refined tailoring,

Jil Sander has been described as the...

...Cashmere-Queen...

...the Queen of Less...

...Master of Minimalism

***

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Remark:  All pictures from the FALL/WINTER COLLECTIONS 1987 and 1988

...to be continued