Jil Sander presented its Women’s and Men’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection in Milan with a homecoming show at the brand’s headquarters, returning to the venue for the first time since 2017.
The space, once a cinema and now a three-storey building overlooking a city landmark, was set almost entirely in white with a single black line tracing the arcing runway. The soundtrack featured evolving electronic bleeps by Bochum Welt.
Creative director Simone Bellotti framed the season as an exercise in learning and discovery, exploring how the house’s reputation for purified design can carry a personal signature. The collection tested opposing qualities such as strictness and lightness, grace and severity, control and freedom, and treated pureness as a working method rather than a limit. Womenswear and menswear were developed in parallel, with detailed craftsmanship and an emphasis on quality evident across both.
The silhouette was sharply vertical. Rational, high-buttoned tailoring was interrupted by folded details and occasional raw hems. Dresses and skirts featured clustered strips of georgette that moved like sliced pages. Double-faced leathers and wool were cut into lightweight, architectural staples. Knitwear, jumpers and shirts conveyed a taut readiness, while small floral motifs and laboratory-sheen technical fabrics added contrast.
Protective ideas ran through the collection. Mirrored leather, metallic sequins and precious silks were shaped to shield the bust and hips, suggesting a contemporary notion of armour. The body was present throughout, either fully revealed through transparency or glimpsed via slits and cut-outs. The palette balanced somber neutrals with dusty pastels and brighter notes, and textures were used to build a tactile dialogue between tension and calm.
Accessories formed a significant part of the proposal. Footwear included square-toed lace-ups, cut-out ballerinas, kitten-heeled brogues and sandals. Multipurpose handbags arrived in several shapes and sizes, led by the new Pivot style, described as a union of a fluid, neat line with a range of attitudes.
