With her timelessly elegant and minimalist lines, Germany's "cool blonde" style pioneer helped to revolutionize women's fashion in the 1980s. Decades on, she is celebrated for creating clothes with form and function.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/K. Nogi
Advertisement
Nobody stands for the Jil Sander brand as much as the designer herself. At 75, Sander is feminine, self-confident, determined. Her unwavering vision and diligence have, from the very start, shaped her international fame and success.
Born on November 27, 1943 in northern Germany and raised in Hamburg, Heidemarie Jiline "Jil" Sander was already inclined as a child to advise friends and family on fashion. After studying textile engineering in Krefeld, where she discovered her penchant for high quality and fine fabrics, she moved to Los Angeles for two years, returning to Hamburg in 1965 to work as a fashion editor for various women's magazines.
But the fashion of that time did not convince the young Sander: too many frills, too much chichi. So at the age of 24 she went into business for herself, opening up a boutique in the fashionable Hamburg district of Pöseldorf.
At first, Parisian designer pieces adorned her displays until her own collection appeared in 1975. When she first presented it in Paris, the French were initially unenthusiastic. But a year later her minimalist fashion, characterized by its easy interchangeability and thus known as the "onion look," helped her to soon garner worldwide acclaim.
Modern and modest: 'Contemporary Muslim Fashions' on show
Islam and trendy style? The combination is a contradiction for many in the Western world. But an exhibition shown at a Frankfurt museum is trying to lift the prejudices surrounding fashion for Muslim women.
Image: Blancheur
Modern yet modest
Focusing on contemporary Muslim style, the exhibition "Contemporary Muslim Fashions" held at Frankfurt's Museum Angewandte Kunst was first shown in San Francisco. The show examines a branch of fashion that is often talked about, but which is rarely given a forum to present itself. Among the exhibits is this design made of silk and Swarovski crystals by Malaysian luxury designer Bernard Chandran.
Image: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Political message
The show also deals with Islamophobia: The First Amendment of the US Constitution is printed in Arabic on this bomber jacket. Among other things, the amendment lays out freedom of religion. The jacket was designed by Lebanese designer Celine Semaan Vernon. She came to Canada as a refugee with her parents at the end of the 1980s and then moved to the US.
Image: Sebastian Kim
An answer to Trump's 'Muslim Ban'
Celine Semaan repeatedly uses her designs to make political statements. In 2017, for example, she designed her "banned" scarves. Some of the scarves feature a satellite photograph of the countries affected by US President Trump's travel ban. The model in this photo is Iranian-American political fashion blogger Hoda Katebi.
Image: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco/Driely Carter
Sports fashion
In addition to clothes, jackets and political scarves, the exhibition also deals with sports fashion. Among the exhibits are a Nike sports hijab and as well as this burkini designed by Shereen Sabet for her company Splashgear. The swimsuit has stirred controversy in different countries, especially in France where it was banned in some cities.
Image: Sabet, Shereen/ Splashgear LLC
Tempted by the hijab
The Frankfurt exhibition includes pieces to demonstrate that modest fashion does not always mean women must cover. The young German-Turkish designer Feyza Baycelebi signed this creation, part of her collection "Die Lust an Verhüllung" — which translates as the desire or the pleasure to veil.
Image: Silver&Soul
'Resist'
Naomi Afia from Vienna is another designer promoting empowerment through modest fashion. Her collection "Our Bodies Our Business" demonstrates the variety of styles one can adopt as a Muslim. "I wanted to make a statement for self-determination, a statement against constraints on what people should wear or not, whether these constraints come from one side or the other," the designer said.
Image: DarSalma Photography
Modest fashion made in Europe
Austrian designer Imen Bousnina featured her debut collection at Modest Fashion Weeks in 2018. First initiated in Dubai, such fashion events are now held in Istanbul, London and Jakarta as well. Modest fashion in Europe is mostly imported from Islamic countries like Turkey; this is something Bousnina hopes to change by creating her own designs.
Image: Dandy Hendrata
High-fashion niqabs
Photographer Wesaam Al-Badr, who was born in Iraq but fled to the US with his family during the Gulf War, wanted to comment on the Western perception of the niqab through his series "Al-Kouture," showing women wearing designer scarves by brands like Chanel, repurposed as high-fashion pieces. It was a form of "soft protest," he says. Would the French would more readily accept a niqab signed Hermès?
Image: Al-Badry, Wesaam
Having fun despite restrictions
This photo is part of the series "Occupied Pleasures," by Tanya Habjouqa. Her portraits shows how people occupy themselves in Israeli-occupied territories. Here girls play javelin right by the Israeli West Bank barrier. The photos won several awards, including a World Press Photo award in 2014.
Image: Habjouqa, Tanya
Social networks: Platforms for expression
Countless bloggers, influencers and fashion magazines are dedicated to the Muslim fashion world. On Instagram, so-called "hijabistas" celebrate the traditional headscarf as a fashion must-have. This aspect is also addressed in the exhibition "Contemporary Muslim Fashions," which can be seen in Frankfurt until September 15.
Image: DW/A. Binder
10 images1 | 10
A breath of fresh air
Sander created a completely new kind of fashion for the modern business woman. Fine fabrics, clear lines, no frills. She underlined the unique characters of her customers, who in the 1980s began taking senior positions. Her clothing gave women self-confidence in an otherwise male-dominated business world.
"For me it was all about form, function and proportion. I never just wanted to decorate," Sander said in an interview.
Her fashion was supposed to be comfortable, stylish and of high quality. Meanwhile, she never tried to copy men's clothing styles. It was always her intention to let self-determined women preserve their feminine charm. The Sander blazer, which quickly became a hit thanks to its precise cut and ability to emphasize female proportions, is arguably her most influential design.
The fashionista kept reinventing herself, but also remained true to her vision. She captured the changing times anew with collections that were always signature Sander. Her lean and understated lines were especially distinguished from the playful and flashier designs of contemporary design giants like Dior and Armani.
Sander also too a unique approach to her own perfume line, which was created and marketed at the end of the 1970s in cooperation with cosmetics manufacturer Lancaster: using her own face. Never before had a designer marketed herself as an advertising medium. And this despite the fact that Sander had always avoided the limelight.
Her appearances after fashion shows were notoriously brief. She was always reserved and did not like to give interviews. The strict protection of her privacy never made it easy for the media to uncover Jil Sander the person.
Cool and sustainable - Finnish fashion
04:54
This browser does not support the video element.
"Jil Sander is hot, Armani is not."
In the following years, the Jil Sander brand expanded and opened branches in fashion metropolises such as New York, Paris and Tokyo. A men's collection followed and in 1989 her company was one of the first to go public on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Sander demanded maximum participation in decision-making, not only in creative tasks. She also asserted herself as a businesswoman in the men's world.
When the company merged with fashion giant Prada in 1999, everything seemed perfect. The Italian partner was to help further expand the accessories business. But only five months later, Sander unexpectedly left the company. The differences between the cool northern German and the spirited managing director Patrizio Bertelli were too great.
Taking time out
The decision was not easy Sander has said, but she happily took time out to design the garden on her estate, to simply read and take long walks.
But Sander has sporadically returned to the fashion scene, and as chief designer created a summer collection for 2012-2013 for the Jil Sander label. She also became creative director of the Japanese fast-fashion group "Uniqlo," creating fashion for the masses in a lower price segment — which garnered her one of the most prestigious design prizes, the Brit Insurance Design Award given by London's Design Museum.
With her timeless style, Sander has continued to prove that less can be more. And the "queen of lean" keeps inspiring generations of women after her. No wonder that the 2018 "Präsens" (Presence) exhibition in Frankfurt was devoted entirely to her oeuvre. Click through the gallery below to discover this retrospective of Sander's lifework.
Jil Sander in Frankfurt
A new Frankfurt exhibition traces Jil Sander's career as a top influential modern fashion designer. Through nine different angles, it considers how her quintessential German minimalism has impacted style up to today.
Image: Peter Lindbergh
'Queen of less'
Few designers from Germany have made a name for themselves in quite the same way as Jil Sander has done since beginning her career in 1968. Born in the north German state of Schleswig-Holstein, Sander got off to a slow start after releasing her first collection in 1973. She went on to garner a reputation as a luxury designer with a minimal aesthetic.
Image: Peter Lindbergh
'Avant-garde casual'
“I make fashion for the woman who dresses avant-garde casual,” Sander said early in her career. By using high-quality materials and German sewing techniques, Sander created classic pieces that could be worn in both business and casual settings and that outlived trends. Her timeless design philosophy is the subject of the exhibition “Präsens” (Present) at the Museum for Applied Art in Frankfurt.
Image: David Sims
In the Bauhaus style
Raised in northern Germany, Jil Sander was influenced by the puritanical functionality of Bauhaus, a German art school movement of the 1920s. Her fashion aesthetic removed opulence and decadence in favor of high-quality craftsmanship and textiles and earned her the nickname “Queen of Less.” The Frankfurt Museum of Applied Art's exhibition compliments Sander's minimalism in its space design.
Image: Paul Warcho
'Present'
The Frankfurt exhibition is devoted exclusively to Sander's work and considers her repertoire in a multimedia installation. The exhibition takes a holistic look at her approach to design and traces Sander's unique combination of aesthetic, material and form that is visible not only in her fashion designs but also in her work in architecture, product and garden design.
Image: Craig McDean
Eye-catching neutrality
In the 80s and 90s, Jil Sander became a fashion favorite with her clean lines and neutral, though not boring, colors. Sanders created unique clothing that allowed the women wearing them to stand out without drawing too much attention to the pieces themselves. This was unique at a time when flashy was a commonly used adjective and the phrase “dress for success” was on every working girl's tongue.
Image: David Sims
The essence of Sander
Having already made a name for herself in fashion as a contrast to the flowery excesses of Paris, Sanders released a perfume and cosmetics line in 1979 that quickly became a classic. Even the shape of the bottles the perfume came in were unique and reflected the boxy aesthetics of the 1980s. Over the decades, she has created numerous popular fragrances, such as Sander for Men in 1999 (above).
Image: Raymond Meier
Tough femininity
The Jil Sander eponymous collections hit their peak in the supermodel era, when photographers like Peter Lindbergh redefined femininity as something tough, not fragile. Sander's well-tailored pantsuits did the same and an aesthetic similar to Lindbergh's comes through in the campaign photography Sanders employed at the time. The exhibition features examples of Sander's strong feminine style.
Image: Craig McDean
A nine-fold exhibition
Curated by Matthias Wagner K in close cooperation with Jil Sander herself, the exhibition is divided into nine thematic areas: runway, backstage, studio, collections, accessories, cosmetics, photography and campaigns, fashion and art, and architecture and garden landscapes. It runs through May 6, 2018 at the Museum of Applied Art in Frankfurt and has a companion book available in German.
