Simone Bellotti On His New Jil Sander Collection and Lifelong Shoe Obsession

The Run-Through with Vogue

Vogue

Fashion & Beauty, Arts

4.1 • 764 Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2026

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today in Milan, Jil Sander Creative Director Simone Bellotti will show his second collection. Two weeks out from the show he was in New York – not to finalize the collection, which he says was largely locked a month ago, but to introduce the brand's new campaign alongside model Guinevere van Seenus. Van Seenus opened Bellotti's debut show and was the star of the Craig McDean campaigns that defined Jil Sander in the nineties. He’s looking back on those days as he prepares for the new collection.

“It’s a brand that you really have to study,” he told Nicole Phelps.

For fall, Bellotti’s mood board is organized around the idea of home—not as sanctuary, but as something more ambivalent. He's been watching Rainer Werner Fassbinder films and exploring the way the director used interiors to create tension and unease, to make the familiar feel threatening. He’s also shifting his approach for the new collection: where his first show was about reduction, this one is about addition. “I love this idea of contradiction,” he said.

Jil Sander once described the mood of her collections like a “clear glass of water” or a “glass of red wine.” When asked to describe the mood of his fall collection: Bellotti didn't miss a beat: it's the olive in a martini. “It’s this extra thing that is apparently superfluous,” he said, “But it makes the cocktail perfect.”

The Run-Through with Vogue is your go-to podcast where fashion meets culture. Hosted by Chloe Malle, Head of Editorial Content, Vogue U.S.; Chioma Nnadi, Head of British Vogue; and Nicole Phelps, Director of Vogue Runway, each episode features the latest fashion news and exclusive designer and celebrity interviews.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Chloe Mel, and I am so excited to tell you all about the spring issue of Vogue, my first as head of editorial content.
0:07.9	It is full of so many examples of what Vogue does best.
0:12.2	There is a spectacularly romantic cover shoot with Rosalia, a beautiful and moving remembrance of Valentino Garavani by Hamish Bowles,
0:21.5	the quest for the perfect pillow with a beautiful oil painting illustration
0:25.7	inspired by the Simone Roche at runway show,
0:28.9	a tribute to shoes that pack a punch,
0:31.4	starring some of our favorite staff doggs.
0:34.3	It's an issue I'm so proud of.
0:36.7	I'm so excited for everyone to see it and to touch it and hold it and keep it. And if you're not already a subscriber, this is the moment to join. You can get unlimited access at vogue.com slash spring issue.
1:13.6	This is the run through. I'm Nicole Feltz. Today I'm joined by Simone Abilati, the creative director of Jill Sander and a very talented designer. He just showed his second collection for the label today in Milan following a very strong debut back in September. He joined us in New York a couple of weeks before the show to tell us about the new collection why 90s fashion is still such a cultural touch point today and his lifelong obsession
1:19.3	with shoes.
1:22.7	Ciao, Simone.
1:23.8	It's great to see you here in New York.
1:26.3	Thank you.
1:27.1	Thank you for having me here. It's like a big
1:30.5	honor to be here with you. Well, thank you. You are two weeks away from your second show for Jill
1:40.9	Sander. And so you have to tell us why are you actually in New York at this crucial time in the development of your new season?
1:48.0	Yeah.
1:49.0	Luckily, we almost finalized everything a month ago, more or less.
1:56.0	I came here, first of all, because we just went out with the new campaign and so we wanted to introduce
2:09.5	this new project we had a very nice talk yesterday at Marion Goodman Gallery.
2:24.3	I was with the legendary Guinevere Van Sieness.
	...

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