Jil Sander - Fall 2006 Standing Still

The Jil Sander apologist keep saying that Prada shouldn't change the brand too much; they should be faithful to Jil's vision, make sure not to alienate her customer. Prada listened and now they are slowing killing the brand.

Is what we are seeing from Raf, below, what got us all excited about Jil in the first place? What made Jil's work in the 90's so exciting was not just her minimalistic design, but the fact that it looked so good against what else was out there. The most important designers at that time were minimalist (Jil, Helmut, and don't forget Marc Jacobs was one of the best at the look) but fashion has moved on, Marc has moved on and up, but Helmut is gone and Jil (or at least the people running the business) just stands still.

Raf is a great talent and I know this is his first women's collection but will these looks put Jil back on the map (or, even more importantly, back on the rack) as one of the most directional houses?

I want my Jil back!