After spending his first season at Jil Sander stripping things back, Simone Bellotti shifted gears for his second show. This time, he embraced the “superfluous,” adding ruffles to trousers, high slits to coats, and provocative gaps in skirts that flashed white stockings. He wanted to see if something seemingly extra could actually be essential—and he proved it can be.
Coming from a menswear background, Bellotti is all about the tiny details. He drew inspiration from Anders Petersen’s gritty 1960s photos of a Hamburg bar, Café Lehmitz. He was moved by the intimacy and “distortion” of the people there, which translated into clothes that looked slightly undone: collars falling back, shoulders detached from the body, and jackets that looked like they were slipping off.
His fans are already leaning into his sharp lines and bold material choices. This collection was full of “insider” details, like curved “banana” jackets that hugged the body and skirts with asymmetric waistbands that looked like they were being unpeeled. Many of the most interesting parts were in the back, including a dress that seemed to spill off the shoulders, held together by simple white stitching.
Bellotti described the collection as “the olive in a martini”—the little extra thing that makes the whole thing perfect. Beyond the clothes, he showed off a strong footwear game, ranging from scuffed-up tan suede boots to stretchy scuba shoes. The biggest shock, however, was a pair of pumps inspired by Tippi Hedren in The Birds, which featured the same slashed-open back seen throughout the clothing. It was a rare, sexy turn for Jil Sander, and it worked.
