SANDER, Jil

German designer

Born: Heidemarie Jiline Sander in Wesselburen, Germany, 27 November 1943. Education: Graduated from Krefeld School of Textiles, near Düsseldorf, 1963; foreign exchange student, University of Los Angeles, 1963-64. Career: Fashion journalist, McCall's, Los Angeles, and for Constanze and Petra magazines, Hamburg, 1964-68; freelance clothing designer, 1968-73; opened first Jil Sander boutique, Hamburg, 1968; founded Jil Sander Moden, Hamburg, 1969; showed first women's collection, 1973; founded Jil Sander GmbH, 1978; introduced fragrance and cosmetics line, 1979; launched Jil Sander furs, 1982; debut of leather and eyewear collections, 1984; Jil Sander GmbH converted to public corporation, Jil Sander AG, 1989; opened Paris boutique, 1993; showed first menswear collection, 1993; opened flagship store, Hamburg, 1997; Prada bought stake in firm, 1999; departed the company bearing her name, 2000; barred from designing a competing Sander line, until 2003; fragrances include Woman Pure, Woman II, Woman III, Man Pure, Man II, Man III, Man IV, and Feeling Man. Awards: Fil d'Or award, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985; City of Munich Fashion award, 1983; Vif-Journal Silberne Eule, 1983; Fédération Française du Prêt á Porter Feminin award, 1985; Aguja de Oro award, Madrid, 1986; Forum Preis, 1989. Address: Osterfeldstrasse 32-34, 22529 Hamburg, Germany. Website: www.jilsander.com.

Publication

On SANDER:

Books

Stegemeyer, Anne, Who's Who in Fashion, Third Edition, New York, 1996.

Articles

Mayer, Margit J., "Soft und Sander," in Deutsch Vogue (Munich), January 1990.

Gomez, Edward, "Less is More Luxurious," in Time, 25 June 1990.

Drier, Melissa, "Jil Sander," in Mirabella (New York), June 1991.

Mayer, Margit J., "Jil Sander: Ganz Privat," in Marie Claire (Germany), August 1991.

——, "A Walk with Jil Sander," in W (New York), 30 September-7 October 1991.

Livingston, David, "A Vision of Strength: Jil Sander," in the Toronto Globe & Mail, 2 January 1992.

Miller, Annetta, "The Selling of Jil Sander," in Newsweek, 16 November 1992.

Schaenen, Eve, "Minimalist No More," in Harper's Bazaar, March 1993.

Rubenstein, Hal, "The Glorious Haunting of Jil Sander," in Interview, September 1993.

La Ferla, Ruth, "Pure Style: Jil Sander Talks About Clothes…," in Elle (New York), February 1994.

Bellafante, Ginia, "Lessons in Lessness," in Time, 7 November 1994.

Spindler, Amy M., "Luminous Design from Jil Sander," in the New York Times, 8 March 1995.

"Jil Sander: Coming on Strong," in WWD, 8 March 1995.

Ozzard, Janet, "Jil Power," in WWD, 17 May 1995.

Drier, Melissa, "Jil Goes Home," in WWD, 29 September 1997.

"Milan's Minimal Man," in DNR, 14 January 1998.

Bowles, Hamish, "More for Less," in Vogue, September 1998.

"Jil's Smart Set," in WWD, 9 October 1998.

"Technologically Speaking," in WWD, 5 March 1999.

Cohen, Edie, "Minimalism with Mouldings," in Interior Design, April 1999.

"Faded Glory," in WWD, 1 October 1999.

Mui, Nelson, and Luisa Zargani, "Retailers Still See Viability of Sander's Men's Line," in DNR, 26 January 2000.

Horyn, Cathy, "Up and Out, Jil Sander Makes a Clean Sweep," in the New York Times, 25 February 2000.

Givhan, Robin, "Jil Sander and Prada: A Clash of Colors," in the Washington Post, 3 March 2000.

"No Mending Fences for Jil Sander," in DNR, 7 April 2000.

"The Council of Fashion Designers of America Honors the Year's Most Influential Designers at the American Fashion Awards 2000 Gala," in PR Newswire, 16 June 2000.

"Jil Sander Profits Up," in WWD, 6 September 2000.

Conti, Samantha, "Prada's Wild Ride," in WWD, 18 December 2000.

Ball, Deborah, "The Brand Rules Fashion's New World," in the Wall Street Journal, 12 March 2001.

"The Sander Saga," in WWD, 9 July 2001.

Davis, Boyd (ed.), "Jil Sander," available online at Fashion Windows, www.fashionwindows.com, 3 October 2001.

Guerrero, Clare, "Jil Sander," online at First Cut, www.firstcut.com, 3 October 2001.

"Project Profile: Jil Sander Headquarters," online at Rambusch, www.rambusch.com, 3 October 2001.

***

Jil Sander has often been described as the Queen of German fashion, but her style and ambitions have always been international. Her company headquarters were located in the north German city of Hamburg, but her clothes were manufactured in Milan, where she showed for almost a decade before changing her venue to Paris. A self-made success story, Sander designed for independent, intelligent women around the world. She also created fragrances for both men and women, and began producing a menswear line in 1993.

Sander has a strong, modern sensibility, and her style has been described as luxurious minimalism, on the edge of forward. There were no frills or fads in Sander's world; everything irrelevant is eliminated. Like Giorgio Armani, she is one of the fashion world's most austere purists, a creator of designs so clean they seem stripped down to the bone. Yet it is not entirely accurate to describe her clothes as classic, because this would imply they are static, and Sander has never repeated bestselling designs from the previous collections.

"I find 'timeless' classic terribly boring," Sander told German Vogue in January 1990. "A classic is an excuse, because one is too lazy to confront the spirit of the time." Her own style of classicism always had a modern edge, and the woman who wears Sander's clothes "knows perfectly well what is 'in' this season, and has consciously reduced [it] to suit herself." Sander loves fashion and change and believes other women feel the same way. "We don't buy a new coat because we are cold. We buy things that animate, that give us a good feeling."

Sander has been one of the most important women designers working in both the 20th and 21st centuries, believing there are definite differences between male and female design sensibilities. Male designers, Sander told Mirabella in June 1991, tend to "see things more decoratively—more from the outside. I want to know how I feel in my clothes." She tries on all the clothes in her women's collection herself, to ensure they look and feel exactly right. They consistently have the high quality of the best menswear; they are beautifully tailored, and made from menswear-derived fabrics, often her own luxury fiber blends such as wool-silk or linen-silk. Yet her palette tends toward pale neutrals, which read as both strong and feminine.

Sander's combination of masculine and feminine design elements results in clothes that feel comfortable and look powerful but are also sexy in a subtle way. Her version of understated chic is not cheap, however. "If you want quality, it costs," she bluntly told Mirabella 's journalist. (Her women's suits range from $1,500 to $6,500.) Think more and buy less, she advised. "People have already consumed too much." But as journalist Melissa Drier observed, Sander's clothes give women the same confidence that a hand-tailored suit gives a man.

The words "strong" and "powerful" occur frequently in Sander's conversation, revealing something of her own personality, as well as her design aesthetic and her ideal customer. "A powerful woman, a woman who knows who she is—I would say that is more interesting than a doll with the most beautiful nose in the world," she told Marie Claire in August 1991. And as if to complement the strong modern woman, Sander has called her men's fragrance Feeling Man.

Sander has had no sympathy for the old-fashioned concept of woman as sex kitten or status symbol. "It is possible to have a very sexy feeling without looking like a sex kitten," she commented to W in fall 1991. A woman wearing an austere, brown wool trouser-suit can look and feel sexy, she believes. The typical alta-moda woman might not be happy in Sander's clothes, but many women today do want clothes that express a liberated sensibility and a modern sensuality.

Sander's intuition, too, has guided her into unusual modes, which Women' Wear Daily typified as the "bold and controversial punch" that is her trademark. In 1997, she opened a Hamburg flagship on Neuer Wall, which she dubbed the city's emerging "Madison Avenue." Interior Design applauded her collaboration with American architect Michael Gabellini and characterized the two visionaries as "masters of minimalism." Her ambition turned to locations in Osaka, Zurich, Basel, St. Moritz, London, New York, Miami, and Costa Mesa, California.

In 1999 Sander abandoned the airy femininity of 1998 with its drapey rayons, metallic threads, and mesh and invigorated her line with vinyl tunics. Later in the year, she paired top and skirt in contrasting patterns. To soften the look, she reversed fabrics to present the faded underside. She detailed with ruching and pintucking and experimented with felted or rubber-coated wools. For a new men's line, she replaced the power suit with pared-down tweeds, cashmere, and boiled wools. For herself, she commissioned Renzo Mongiardino to refurbish her 19th-century villa in Hamburg.

Just as Sander was revolutionizing unyielding, cookie-cutter men's businesswear, her unforeseen exit from Hamburg-based Prada in January 2000 bemused the fashion hierarchy with more questions than answers. The dust-up with moneyman Patrizio Bertelli occurred five months after Prada invested in her fashion house. At the time, Sander saw Prada as a partner and looked to Bertelli for strength as she aimed at introducing a line of fashion accessories.

Chief executive Bertelli obviously discounted the element that sold Jil Sanders clothes. His refusal to budget her choice of fine fabrics and trims for her $3,000 suits, $6,000 coats, and $1,000 sweaters irrevocably destroyed their synergy. Critics tended to take her side on the issue of marketing versus quality. In March, the Washington Post mourned, "Sander's cool dedication to business, smart women and fine tailoring will be sorely missed."

Of Sander's instinct for fashion, Nancy Pearlstein of Louis in Boston stated, "I think she's probably one of the most talented people in the business. She has an exquisite sense of fine fabric and that knowledge is irreplaceable." Appropriately, the Council of Fashion Designers of America nominated Sander for the 2000 International award. Fashion analyst Boyd Davis crowed her the Queen of German Fashion.

Ironically, Sander's exit her company occurred when the firm was showing strong sales and profits. Milan Vukmirovic, formerly with Gucci, eased into Sander's place but without replicating her knack for style and luxe. Exuding confidence in Sander's replacement, Bertelli stated to Women's Wear Daily, "A brand that's as strong as Jil Sander doesn't need to rely on the name of a designer." A legal settlement prohibited Sander from designing a competing line until January 2003. Speculation envisioned her making up with Bertelli and paired her with Hérmes as a replacement for Martin Margiela, but both rumors proved untrue. As models hit the runway wearing spring 2002 designs, the fashion world missed Sander's élan.

—Valerie Steele;

updated by Mary Ellen Snodgrass