Who the Heck Did Jil Sander Just Hire As Creative Director?

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After Jil Sander left her eponymous label for the third time in October 2013, the brand has finally named Rodolfo Paglialunga creative director. Pagli-who? Good question. The Italian designer is most well-known for making the French label Vionnet happen for a second back in 2009 before leaving in 2011. Before that he was womenswear design director at a little label you might have heard of called Prada.

Though Sander is mostly understood as minimalist, Paglialunga isn't especially so (see this Vionnet dress on Madonna or this one on Diane Kruger). To be fair, though, neither was Raf Simons and he did alright during his seven-year stint at the company before moving on to Dior. It'll be interesting to see how he channels the brand's bare-bones aesthetic in his first collection, the spring 2015 season to be shown this September.

Also, Jil Sander seems to have a consistency problem when it comes to design directors. If all the minimalist fans out there are wondering whether they should count on this guy to be there when a clean, blank slate of a dress is needed many years to come, the answer is maybe. Jil Sander's chief executive officer Alessandro Cremonesi told WWD, "The label has not been tied to its founder for a long time. A number of different designers have been in charge, and we are at ease about the strength and potential of the brand. It has an evolving, independent history. This is a multiyear agreement [with Paglialunga], and we reason in the medium-long term."
· Rodolfo Paglialunga Named Jil Sander Creative Director [WWD]
· Jil Sander Leaves Jil Sander [Racked]
· Raf Simons Adds Costumier to His Massive Resume [Racked]