JIL SANDER

Known as the "Queen of Less" Jil Sander is a german minimalist fashion designer and founder of the Jil Saunder fashion house. Sander founded her own fashion house in Hamburg, Germany in 1968. She flourished through the 1980s and 1990s, working alongside Prada who also bought 75% shares in her company.

As a symbolic designer who focused on minimalism in particular, Sander was a key force behind the development of women’s fashion in the eighties and nineties.Her trademarks were neutral colors, unusual textures,quality fabrics being the force behind many of her collections, and an open-minded attitude toward technological innovation. In 1999,for example, she used Nike Air Max mesh for suiting.

In 1999, as minimalism died down and maximalism was all the rage, Sander sold 75% of her company to Prada, which created a completley new vibe to her fashion house and the collections that were shown. Six months after selling, she resigned as chief designer, only to return, briefly, three years later, then resign again. She was brought back a second time in 2012, as the industry brought back her favourite concept of less-is-more, but she then abruptly left in 2013 for personal reasons.
It was during her come back in 2000 that Sander first showed that her occasionally severe, functional style could evolve. She inched from power toward prettiness, changing her original style to less androgynous and more feminine.  It has been announced that Sander will be leaving again following her Spring collection 2014.

Jil Sander has been devoted to minimalism since she began her career as a fashion desinger, which is why I chose her as one of my designers to research into. Sander established a fashion label through her own personal taste and style without any influecnes from the fashion industry. Perhaps this is why she has left and come back so many times? When maximalism was in trend she could have altered her style to become more mainstream and current. However I really respect that she would instead rather lay low for a while and make stronger come backs when minimalism is back on the scene. She sticks to what she does best and how she wants to design and create garments. This should be considered by more designers to prevent so many repeated trends.