Cashmere
jumper, £130,
jacket, £150,
and skirt, £80
It’s a good week for fashionistas on a
budget: Jil Sander’s latest +J collaboration
drops online and in select stores at Uniqlo
on Thursday. For the uninitiated, here is a
quick lesson on one of the best mass-
market/designer collaborations out there.
Sander is one of the fashion “greats” — the
German designer, aka the “Queen of Less”,
defined 1990s minimalism with her simple
suiting and perfect white shirts, before
leaving her eponymous label for the last
time in 2013. She once said, “I need work
like fish need water,” and Sander, 77, just
keeps working. “I still feel like creative work
is really very good for us,” she laughs,
calling me from her native Germany. (She
doesn’t like Zoom.) “You know, for me
especially, because I did it all my life.”
Her collaboration with Uniqlo — the
Japanese fast-fashion giant that wins plaudits
in stylish circles for its mainstay basics
(The cashmere! The chinos!) at affordable
prices — doesn’t offer the million-pound,
celeb-fronted campaigns or flashy frocks
of other blockbuster partnerships. Rather
it is simple, ageless and infinitely wearable;The high street
secret fashion
editors love
Jil Sander’s Uniqlo
collaboration has become
the insider go-to for
well-cut coats and classic
shirts – and as the final
collection arrives in store
this week, the fashion
pack are setting their
alarms. Jane McFarland
gets a rare audience
with the 77-year-old
master of minimalism
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