MILAN — If you think debuts are the biggest challenge for a new creative director, think twice.
Curiosity and predictions might charge the event with a lot of expectation, but there’s a different layer of complexity in prepping a sophomore collection.
Just ask Simone Bellotti. “Making a second collection is more difficult,” the Jil Sander creative director told WWD without hesitation during a preview earlier this week. Only to quickly add that “in truth, it’s always difficult. The moment you feel that [making a collection] is no longer difficult, there’s a problem.”
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The extra pressure might come from the need to confirm or upturn the labels press, buyers and fashion enthusiasts were quick to attach to that first outing. But for Bellotti, the comments instead inspired an interesting investigation around the theme of “house.”
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“I started to think about this concept after the debut. There was much talking about whether I respected the house codes or not, so I started to think about the notion of the house at large, both metaphorically as a fashion brand and as the physical place of a home,” Bellotti said.
He particularly explored the ambivalence and tension represented by such a space, which can be either a safe haven where one feels comfortable or a place one wants to flee to venture into the outside world.
While for his debut he appeared to embrace the former, respecting the graphic purity of the Jil Sander codes, Bellotti seems to have adopted the latter approach for his second outing.
The fall 2026 coed collection he will parade Wednesday is poised to feature a more personal handwriting and more daring touches. The designer literally plays with the home theme through the use of fabrics and textiles generally used in interior design and nods to his own background, paying tribute to his father, an upholsterer.
Even more than in the textures, it’s in the volumes and overarching spirit of the lineup that the shift will be apparent. Straight lines, compact fits and an overall exercise of reduction to reach the essence of the Jil Sander codes marked his debut, but for fall 2026 Bellotti is exploring “more-ness,” playing with fabric in excess, curvy lines and the notion of fluidity.
“I wanted to add something that was extremely superfluous. Because I wondered if even the superfluous can be considered essential,” he said.
As a result, wool coats will come with flowy panels on the back, some of the elongated tailored pieces will have their proportions further stretched in tails, and millefeuille collars piling layers of raw-hemmed fabrics will peak from outerwear, offering a counterpoint to their plain silhouettes.
The exploration of movement and flow also will inform the more structured designs, like leather pencil skirts with sinuous constructions and folds or velvet coats slashed on the back for a more airy effect. A sculptural softness will additionally run through puff skirts draped “to look like curtains,” he said, or in the jacquard padded short dresses winking to the mattresses Bellotti’s father used to upholster by hand.
Raised shoulder lines and hourglass shapes will build on the graphic nature of the collection and Bellotti’s study of the interaction between the body and the garments.
He believes the Jil Sander house sits on the foundations of purity and sensuality. “This brand has always been associated to something very austere but to me it has always had a very elegant, very subtle sensuality, which is not easy to channel. And in fact, I still have to learn to do so,” he said candidly. “If you look at some archival images or old campaigns, there was this research for lightness but also deep cuts [on the fabrics]. You associate this brand to the formal white shirt and black jacket, which are beautiful, but there’s this extreme femininity and also lightness, which I want to bring to the menswear, too.”
Further inspiring his quest to instill subtle seduction in the collection was the black-and-white photography included in the 1978 book “Café Lehmitz” by Anders Petersen, which portrays the characters hanging out at the iconic bar in Hamburg and their interaction.
“I like the distortion of the clothes captured in these pictures, and looked to do the same with some of my pieces, too,” Bellotti said. “There’s also an element of rawness that I wanted to include, to disrupt that idea of neatness.”
This approach trickled down to some of the accessories, like suede pumps, boots and tote bags with a lived-in effect, which will flank more geometric and sleek propositions. Exaggerated platforms and slim-soled ballet flats in satin or leather will add to the pointy lace-up shoes Bellotti introduced last season, here offered in new colorways. The show will also tease a new collaboration with Oliver Peoples on two sunglass designs, featuring a J-shaped temple tip.
“No one will see this, but it’s more for me,” he quipped, running his finger on the eyewear piece.
Actually, there’s a risk that the same can be said of the details in the collection, with pieces often punctuated by little stitches or crafty constructions that might get lost from afar. “It’s all stuff that won’t be visible from a phone screen,” he said with a pinch of bitterness. “This is a brand that encourages you to work on the details. The micro becomes important here, so some things inevitably get lost on a screen.”
What won’t get lost is the digital invitation to the show, a moody video in which Kim Gordon narrates a poetic text penned by Chiara Barzini and inspired by the home theme of the season. In addition to this duo, Bellotti collaborated with American musician Laurel Halo to create the soundtrack of the show, which will take place in Jil Sander’s historic headquarters in Milan. For the occasion, the spare white space will be revamped with brown carpeting to channel the cozier feeling of a house.