jil sander

The most necessary item women will need next spring and summer is a reliable pair of underwear. Transparency was a big trend in New York and it resurfaces in Milan where it lends itself to a different take on sensual lightness. The Belgian thinker with a background in menswear, Raf Simons experimented with his own riff on light, movement, and the body at the typically austere Jil Sander.

Over the past handful of seasons since Simons has taken over as chief designer at Jil Sander, he has consistently and expertly crafted a Jil Sander woman that is intelligent, modern, and rigorously chic in the same way Uma Thurman was in "Gattaca" or Tilda Swinton is in any anything. She's a little futuristic, a little provocative in her purity, and a lot evolutionary in her precise and architectural look. The suit and the dress have been Simon's expertise since delving into womenswear (this is only his fifth womenswear show ever) and in this collection he experimented with both pieces that are so central to a woman's wardrobe in a completely refreshing and forward thinking way. Billowy and diaphanous pieces were more present than ever but the same attention to fit and tailoring was not lost in the least. It was lightness on the body done by someone who is curious about things that are perhaps too cerebral for us to understand but he remains very conscientious of who he designs for and that is what keeps us coming back for the simple surprises Simons always has in store.

Simon's appetite for the refined and restrained have been deftly honed ever so slightly each season, but what was fantastic about this show is that he seemed to loosen up a bit and try colors that were new for him and new shapes without losing his personality or what he has already established. Simons worked his usual long and lean shape but added dimension to it by breathing a cloud of tulle around the otherwise structured shape. Volume also showed up in wide-legged pants that were paired with torso elongated tops to give the look a contrast and range. Antenna-thin pants were more narrow than usual but played against those Hammer pants in just the right way. A woman can find her fit somewhere in those pants but be most excited by the colors and interesting play on tops. Shades of creamsicle, shocking pink, and cobalt blue popped more when they were layered in squares of organza or tulle that appeared to be a new variation on the geometric shapes that underscores a Jil Sander collection. Some of the cocktail dresses and maxi dresses looked like Orgami bouquets or naughty blurs of sweet but dirty thoughts. Simons's ability to layer, literally, and place panels of material atop another gives color a different context and offers a brief glimpse of the flesh underneath was neither vulgar or garish. Simon's vision was so relaxed and full of movement that its breeziness and the evocation of something like colored smoke would be perfect for a late night of Champagne on a yacht on the Amalfi Coast.

Body consciousness is redefined at Jil Sander where it's not necessarily clothing that constricts and confines, but draws the eye in to see something more bare and inviting.