This Is a Perfect Outfit for a Summer Getaway

The idea of mindful retreat was on the mind of several designers this season – among them, Luke and Lucie Meier, the husband-and-wife duo who together helm Jil Sander. In their short time at the house, they have redefined the severe minimalism of the label’s founder with an altogether softer touch: for Spring/Summer 2019, they presented a collection based on uniform – boxers, ballerinas and military women among them – though the clothing itself had none of the strictness that these roles might suggest. Instead, a poetic simplicity comprised of Dickies-style workwear trousers which flared gently towards the hem, elegantly tailored boiler suits, plissé skirts – this was a wardrobe for a relaxed state of mind. An appealingly sedate campaign, photographed by Mario Sorrenti in Japan, followed: in several of the images models recline in healing Ryokan onsen baths, in others they pass wistfully through fishing villages and traditional teahouses.

Here, Jil Sander’s ‘ayous’ clogs – which meld together Japanese Geta sandals and the orthopedic fussbett sliders of Sander’s native Germany – are worn with an ensemble by A.W.A.K.E. The label’s Belgian designer, Natalia Alaverdian, too channels a sense of Japanese-inflected calm in much of her work, where softly deconstructed staples are pushed just off-kilter. For her Pre-Fall 2019 collection she looked towards the dress codes of minimal 1990s business attire, but a natural sense of ease prevailed: pieces are reassuring in their sized-up proportions, or wrap and tie around the body simply. The ensemble above, for example – a coordinating top and skirt in waffle-texture cotton, the latter tying gently around the waist – has all the comfort and relaxation of a freshly laundered hotel robe. 

Hair: Hirokazu Endo using Bumble & Bumble. Make-up: Mattie White using Lord & Berry. Model: Priscilla Cheseaux at Storm Management. Casting: Troy Casting at D+V Management. Set design: Laura Little. Manicure: Robbie Tomkins at Premier. Photographic assistants: Ellen Egan. Styling assistants: Priyanka Makwana, Sarah Carone, Grace Naef and Antoine Caballero. Set-design assistants: Frank Styles.