Jil Sander

Jil Sander (born Heidemarie Jiline Sander, born November 27, 1943 in Hedwigenkoog, or Wesselburen, Dithmar ) is an internationally renowned German fashion designer from Hamburg.

Sander is designated at least since the 1980s for her as a distinct and timeless, yet elegant and high-priced fashion for women and also famous for men as well as for their cosmetic line since 1997. In addition to Karl Lagerfeld and Wolfgang Joop Sanders is one of the few internationally renowned fashion designers in Germany. Due to their simple minimalist designs and their penchant for luxurious materials it received from the press appreciative epithets such as " Queen of less" or " Cashmere Queen".

The company and thus the JIL SANDER Sander brand founded in 1968 in Hamburg. After a difficult initial years, which were overcome with a lucrative perfume license, an IPO in 1989 and internationally successful periods in the 1990s, Sander sold the company now globally active in mid-1999 as part of expansion plans at the Prada group and left the company in early 2000 due to differences with the new owners. After a brief return as chief designer in 2003 she gave up her post at the end of 2004 again. 2009 Sander took over after five years absence from the fashion world for the Japanese fashion chain Uniqlo a design job that she completed in late 2011. 28 February 2012 Jil Sander returned to the of her almost 44 years ago founded company that was sold in 2006 by Prada and now owned by a Japanese textile company, as creative director back. Shortly before her 70th birthday in October 2013 left the company Sander again.

Career

Heidemarie Jiline Sander grew up in Hamburg with her mother and her stepfather. After a textile engineering degree at the National Engineering School of Textile beings in Krefeld (now the Hochschule Niederrhein connected) she went as an exchange student in Los Angeles. After two years she returned to her hometown to work as a fashion editor for several women's magazines ( Constanze and Petra ).

Opened in 1967, the then 24 -year-old in the Hamburg district Poseldorf under the name Jil Sander fashion boutique, founded in 1968, the Jil Sander GmbH in 1974 and sold alongside Fashion by Sonia Rykiel, Thierry Mugler and others, have their own collections. A presentation of their purist fashion in Paris in 1975 came at a time of opulent, colorful fashion but with little enthusiasm. In 1976 she made with the so-called onion look, which consisted of many individual parts that can be combined with high quality materials and from the early 1980s, particularly among working career women gained recognition, the international breakthrough. In 1978, she advanced in collaboration with the cosmetic manufacturers Lancaster (since 1996 Coty ) their product range to include fragrance and skin care line Jil Sander Pure Woman, she was applying for years with his own likeness. The lucrative perfume license and the advertising associated enabled the expansion of the company. The first men's fragrance, Jil Sander Man Pure, followed in 1981 Since then, numerous fragrances for men and women -. Including classics such as Jil Sander Sun ( 1989 ) - launched, some of whom were reinstated.

In the 1980s - a time when the simple, restrained fashion and subtle colors on the international catwalks were little present - Sander presented their collections at the Milan fashion shows, to better reach the international audience. They also took over in 1983 as a high school teacher in the field of fashion design, the management of the Fashion Department at the University of Applied Arts Vienna; her predecessor there Karl Lagerfeld had been. 1989, as now a successful entrepreneur, she converted the GmbH into a stock corporation and led their company as one of the first fashion companies on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

The early 1990s, propagated by the international catwalks fashion in contrast to the 1980s, was androgynous and discreet. Sander had their time with their minimalist simple designs to ten years ahead. The by Jil Sander sent into gossamer and yet simple creations on the catwalk Milan supermodels looked so elfin, that the saying " Jil Sander is hot Armani not. " Established and increased the sales figures of the company steadily. Especially in Asia, the presence of Jil Sander has been greatly expanded with numerous boutiques. In Tokyo, Hong Kong and Taipei originated elegant Jil Sander flagship store, at the design Sander personally participated in collaboration with renowned architects such as Michael Gabellini. In 1993, an elegant boutique on Avenue Montaigne in Paris precious mile to the network added. The first half of the 1990s is considered the golden age of the brand Jil Sander.

Emphasis on women's fashion changed Sander until 1997, when they first - the usual simple style - also designed collections for men. The launch of the men's collection had previously been repeatedly postponed by Sander. The menswear was soon about 20 percent of Group sales.

Sale and withdrawal

1999, the Italian Prada Group bought 75 percent of the ordinary shares and 15 percent of the preferred shares of Jil Sander AG for an estimated 275 million DM Sander a financially strong partner had used, even to himself increasingly devoted to the design process to be able to. In 2000, she conceded, however, due to irreconcilable differences with the boss Patrizio Bertelli Prada surprising her post as CEO, but took over in May 2003 to the delight of the international press again the design responsibility within the company. Bertelli had the former Gucci designer Milan Vukmirovic appointed to succeed Sander, whose designs they now revised. Under Vukmirovics design guide longtime Jil Sander fans new customers with commercial collections and not enough scares won. The company was in the red since 2001. Sanders designs of the two following seasons were praised by the press and enthusiastically received by the buyers. Your return to the company was accompanied by an increase in sales of four percent. However, at the company beat continues to be a net loss of 17 million euros. In November 2004, Sander left the company she founded a second time. Sander and Bertelli had been able to find regarding the strategic direction of the company is no common line.

In spring 2005 Prada let it be known that the Belgian menswear designer Raf Simons chief designer 'll all collections from Jil Sander. On 5 May 2005 reported the Jil Sander AG, despite the implemented cost -cutting program, which closed in addition to staff cuts in Hamburg showroom and the entire production had been transferred to Italy, again a loss of 29.6 million euros for fiscal year 2004. Bertelli was not been able to bring the house Jil Sander on track.

In February 2006, Prada sold the subsidiary Jil Sander for an estimated 120 million euros ( details were not disclosed ) to the British financial investor Change Capital Partners ( CCP ), headquartered in London. Change Capital Partners took over not only the Jil Sander brand, but also the management team and designers Simons, who celebrated in mid-2005 with the men's collection for spring 2006, its design debut at Jil Sander and as a result, especially with the men's collections for his interpretations of Sander heritage has been praised by the press. End of 2006, the listing of Jil Sander AG of CCP was canceled.

In October 2008, Change Capital Partners sold its interests in Jil Sander for 167 million euros to the Japanese firm Onward Holdings Co. Ltd. and its European subsidiary Gibo Co. SpA Since then, the company operates within the Onward Holdings Guppe as Jil Sander SpA with headquarters in Milan and as Jil Sander K. K. based in Tokyo. As early as 2006, there had been speculation that Hugo Boss could take over the company Jil Sander, or that the company founder could buy back their company.

Return

Sander himself appeared after five years of absence in the spring of 2009, again on the scene of the fashion world. As a design consultant to the apparel chain UNIQLO the Japanese fashion group Fast Retailing she designed nearly three years, a fashion collection called J for men and women in the typical Sander- style, but in low price segment, although the prices above those of the other UNIQLO assortment lay. In March 2011, the J collection for autumn / winter has been awarded the 2010 Brit Insurance Design Award in the fashion category, which is awarded by the Design Museum London and is one of the most prestigious design awards. The collaboration with UNIQLO was completed in summer 2011.

28 February 2012 Jil Sander has returned to the company she founded, as creative director. Onward Holdings had previously terminated the cooperation with the Belgian Raf Simons as creative director of Jil Sander by mutual agreement of February 27, 2012. Sander presented the first collection after her return in the men's fashion shows in Milan in late June, 2012. Critics praised their men's fashion designs " cut art [ ... ] colors, shapes and materials ." Sanders first women's collection since returning end of September 2012 was presented in Milan and received positive reviews.

In fall 2013 Jil Sander left her company once again the back. According to the company, they took this step due to personal reasons.

Style

Trademarks of Jil Sander are the strong cut to the body proportions pantsuit, and a simple trench coat or camel- colored coat and the simple white blouse. This will rule out any unnecessary details. The materials are characterized - at least under Sanders guide - very high quality. As dominant colors black, gray, white, beige, brown and dark blue. The introduced in 1997, men's fashion follows the same principles. Sander fashion was at the beginning of the 1980s almost a reversal of the New Look of Dior - namely a shift from playful, ladylike fashion with wide dresses and skirts, and instead a move towards of functional menswear -inspired, elegant ladies' fashion for career women who thus began at this time to capture leadership positions. In times of propagated by the Paris runways brightly colored women's fashion in extravagant cuts and unusual combinations of materials including wide shoulders that are simple yet high quality fashion designs of Jil Sander, a revolution came the same and bestowed the company initially moderate sales figures. That their fashion was combined with each other and with other fashion designers, Sander made ​​famous as the inventor of the " onion looks". She herself sees her aesthetic in the Bauhaus tradition rooted and refers in its purist mode to " smart cuts that give the wearer's movement space and dynamics."

Indicators

In early 2011, the company announced Jil Sander without concrete numbers to call, that after ten years of loss - phase in fiscal 2010, partly due to the introduced to a wider audience Ladies second-line Jil Sander Navy, back in the black were written. Last revenue was reported by 100 million euros for the fiscal year 2008/ 09.

2011 there were 23 Jil Sander shops and about 35 shops -in-shop in major stores worldwide. The company's own online shop was launched in 2010, which generated 3.5% of total revenue. For the movie I Am Love (2009), which was nominated in 2011 for Best Costume Design for the Oscar, Raf Simons had effective advertising created the outfits of the actress Tilda Swinton for the brand Jil Sander.

Collections

• Jil Sander - high-priced women's fashion collection and accessories, since 1974; presented at the Milan fashion shows
• Jil Sander - high priced men 's styles, and accessories, since 1997; presented at the Milan fashion shows
• Jil Sander Navy - fashionable womenswear diffusion line in the upper middle price segment, since 2010; 2012 presented on the outskirts of New York Fashion Week

Honors

• Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1996 )
• Sprachpanscher of the Year ( 1997)

" I may have something world -improving. My life is a giving - story. I understand that you have to be contemporary, must have the future- thinking. My idea was the hand -tailored story to connect with new technologies. And the success was my coordinated concept crucial to the idea that you can together combinen many parts of a collection. But the audience has it all from the beginning also supported. The problem- conscious man of today can these things reflect these qualities with spirit is just too appreciaten. However, our voice is also linked to the target groups. Who wants Ladyisches not searcht at Jil Sander. You must have meaning for the effortless, the magic of my style. "

• Honorary Member of German Designer Club ( DDC) 2012