THE 'JIL SANDER.PRESENT TENSE' RETROSPECTIVE

For many Jil Sander is the Queen of less is less. Her unmistakable clean and lean aesthetic, which anticipated and defined an era, is now on display in a retrospective called “Jil Sander. Present Tense.” The title couldn't be more appropriate for a designer who doesn't like to look back and whose clothes are strikingly up to date. Showcased at Frankfurt's Museum for Applied Art, the exhibition fans out over three floors, covering 32,000 square feet, filled with opens spaces, stairs, ramps and smooth angles. The stark, all white and light-flooded space is peppered with clothes, accessories, fragrances, memento and imagery that make up the designer's trailblazing 50-year career. None, however, come with a date. Completing the installation are macro and micro digital screens, larger-than-life photos, and video screens that pull the visitors into various shows, as if they were part of it. The show marks the first exhibition dedicated to the German designer, who founded her namesake label in 1968 in Hamburg, Germany, and staged her first fashion show in 1975 in Paris. She quickly scaled the ladder of success with her pristine, modernist and beautifully tailored pieces, made from prized or cutting-edge fabrics. In her idea of purism and perfect her proportions, she channeled a lot of energy in the research of exclusive textiles. Considered a forerunner of minimalism, the petite, reclusive and soft-spoken designer has always shunned any form of limelight. And still does today. Because in the end, it's her creations that do the talking.