Lucie and Luke Meier search for a balance between physicality and sensuality in the Jil Sander Women’s and Men’s Autumn/Winter 2024 collection, shown during Milan Fashion Week. The collection, which functions as an immersive capsule, finds meaning in the constant search for balance between sensitivity and form, intimacy and presence, image and intention, concentration and humor– engaging all five senses. Lucie and Luke Meier create a world that works within, not beyond, appearances and creates a detailed intimacy intended only for the wearer. The interior of a garment is equally as important as the exterior; Who does not wear something for the way it feels and smells rather than for the way it looks? 

The formal yet whimsical construction is key to the feelings and emotions that the capsule conveys. Everything looks effortless as simple forms are intricately made, creating the sensation of wearing something precious and uncomplicated. Silhouettes are fluid and soft in shape. Long matelassé and leather down coats and tunics, cocooning capes and shrugs, dresses and jackets, delicate deer leather and Himalayan goat fur, fringed silk yarn cape, and suits grounded on slim trousers all explore the creative possibilities of essential pattern-making, pushing elemental and geometrical forms to the highest capabilities of craftsmanship. Monochromatic themes accentuate the juxtaposition and interplay of the garment’s structure and the body. The balance between roundness and graphic lines comes alive with movement and texture with a focus on natural fabrics: cashmere, shimmering cotton and silk velvets, Italian and Japanese wools, sparks of spiky and leafy anodized steel, silver, and gold jewels, and fuzzy bags. 

With soft and shapely cuts contrasted by horizontal accents, every piece has the subtlety of couture while embracing the dexterity and hard work of the craftspeople who painstakingly make every Jil Sander garment. While simple in form, knitted dresses and tops are integrally knit horizontally, chunky cable knits are, upon close inspection, covered by a wispy, almost transparent knit net, and even a dress is sculpted from and fringed with chainmail. The attention to technical detail exemplifies Jil Sanders as a master of garment making at the highest level. 

Beyond the garments themselves, the stage of Lucie and Luke Meier’s new collection is immersive, smooth, and embracing with Cobalt blue horn speakers that stand out as a functional and artistic installation against a monochromatic set of plush sage green carpet. Mk.gee, the singer-musician, performs his soulful songs live, as the sound itself becomes an active part of the performance and garments themselves; it is inside and around us, it envelopes and connects, traveling between objects and bodies. The music gives shape to our emotions just as the garments moving across the runway floor embrace and embody the senses and convey our every feeling.