Uniqlo’s next collab will be with Jil Sander

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Aug 26, 2020

Uniqlo’s next collab will be with Jil Sander, in a reprise of a link-up with the fashion legend which first began 11 years ago.
 
Back in 2009, the Japanese fast fashion giant worked together with Jil in the first project after launching with her own independent fashion consultancy.

As in the debut association the collection will be named +J. This new collection will begin retailing this autumn.
 
Sander, who was baptized stylistically as the Queen of Less, gave a number of hints about what to expect in an interview with Uniqlo’s in-house magazine, LifeWear, where she also ruminated about her life in her native city of Hamburg.
 
“Uniqlo has a lot of experience and great knowledge of manufacturing. The production possibilities are endless and inspiring. This includes the well-oiled logistics, the infusion with Japanese culture and true mastership of detail,” said Sander, who somewhat ironically founded her own brand in 1968 with her mother’s sewing machine.

The 76-year-old designer who last quit the house she founded in October 2013, indicated that +J would concentrate on her fortes of minimalist design; pure silhouette and quality fabrics.

Ads

“I don’t draw, I design on the body and do many fittings. Thus, I am always conscious of all angles and the three-dimensional form. The fitting process leads to new forms and proportions. My eye is my strongest tool, I can see what is wrong or dated, but also, where the energy comes in and when a design starts to look fresh. I also keep the customers and their diverse needs in mind. Figures, heights and complexions vary, so I try to interpret the collection with a regard to different combinations and a maximum of variability in mind,” she explained.

Sander launched her first Uniqlo collab with a selection of 40 pieces for men and women that included coats, jackets, knitwear and her signature form-fitting white Egyptian cotton T-Shirts. After three years, the two sides jointly ended the association in 2011, before then relaunching a one-off, best-off collection in 2014.

Looking back, Sander recalled in the interview how she got into fashion in the first place: “I started my career as fashion editor for a German fashion magazine. In this function, I organized and supervised fashion shootings. More often than not, I had trouble in achieving the look I had in mind. To improve the design pieces we had to photograph, I contacted the producers with my suggestions and proposed certain changes to their designs. Since I kept doing that, the biggest producer of high-tech fabrics got back to me and proposed that I design for him myself. In the end, it was more satisfying to actually create the clothes rather than shoot existing fashion which didn’t always respond to my esthetics.”

Since retiring Sander has led a discreet existence, staying far from the bright lights and concentrating on developing her own private garden near Hamburg.

“As a port city Hamburg has more channels and rivers than Venice. My first impressions of nature were the changing colors of the sky and its reflections in water. Later, we had a house in the countryside, not far from Hamburg. There, you have sweeping views of farmland, woods and meadows. I always loved the explosion of green in the spring. Since Northern Germany is quite windy, snowflake clouds sail above and change the tonality abruptly. The light here is famous for its purity and brilliancy. Its clarity is so strong, it almost x-rays everything. This light has always influenced my fabric decisions, not only the choice of color, but also of textile qualities. You cannot cheat in this light. Every detail of the weave is highlighted. Only the best quality stands the test,” the legendary designer concluded.