Security and its flip side, protection, have been two of the most persistent topics among this season’s running themes. Designers either want to swaddle us in knits and bundle us up in big coats, or they’re keen to cut strong, serious suits. Given the state of the world, these seem like natural instincts, and they seem to apply to Rodolfo Paglialunga and his latest Jil Sander collection. Take his tailoring, for instance, which was voluminous (as is the current vogue) and served to obscure his models’ willowy frames. On jackets both single- and double-breasted, shoulders were exaggerated, and seaming gave the impression of flattened, almost two-dimensional sleeves. Pants were generously proportioned and skirts were softly A-line or tulip-shaped. Quilting, a somewhat surprising trend given its bulkifying properties, turned up here on elastic-waist skirts, a long-sleeved top, and a dress that looked forgiving, if not necessarily flattering. Flannel and satin coats seemed similarly injected with downy air. Among all of his ideas around these themes, the coats were the most convincing: polished yet practical, and a clever, timely adaptation of the omnipresent puffer jacket.
Sensuality got somewhat sidelined in this mix. Paglialunga used some of the spangly Lurex fabrics that we’ve seen elsewhere, but rather than nipping and tucking them around the body, he built them up with shoulder pads and extra-wide sleeves or let them droop—a missed opportunity. Inevitably, perhaps, the handful of looks that limned the body had the most appeal: a pair of loosely draped sheaths in an abstract animal stripe, a clingy ribbed knit dress in ivory, and a little black dress gathered at the waist with a metal piercing. A touch more of that subtle kink, while not necessarily in keeping with the Sander codes, could have enlivened this subdued collection, which is widely rumored to be Paglialunga’s last for the label.
