Jil Sander’s Book‑Club Show

Jil Sander is turning its Milan Design Week space into a public reading room, with a five-day exhibition of 60 books chosen by artists, designers and filmmakers. (wwd.com) The installation, called Reference Library, opens Monday, April 20, and runs through April 24 at the brand’s showroom near Castello Sforzesco in central Milan. Simone Bellotti, Jil Sander’s creative director since March 2025, developed it with Apartamento and the Milan architecture studio Studioutte. (wwd.com; breradesignweek.it) The 60 contributors include Hans Ulrich Obrist, filmmaker Celine Song, designer Faye Toogood, singer Lykke Li, and editor Miyako Bellizzi, alongside Bellotti, Ronan Bouroullec and Jasper Morrison. Each person selected one title and supplied a text explaining the choice. (wwd.com; hypebeast.com) The setup treats reading like an appointment rather than a browse. Visitors register for one of 60 hourly slots and are given white gloves before handling the books under chrome reading lamps arranged in rows. (wwd.com; fashionunited.com) That format places Jil Sander inside a broader Milan Design Week pattern, where fashion houses now use Fuorisalone to stage exhibitions, installations and cultural programming alongside furniture and industrial design brands. Monocle and Fuorisalone both listed fashion labels as a visible part of the 2026 calendar. (monocle.com; fuorisalone.it) Bellotti told WWD he wanted an atmosphere unlike Jil Sander’s runway shows, using the same off-white headquarters where he has presented ready-to-wear since his debut last year. The project is his first for Milan Design Week under OTB, the group that bought Jil Sander in 2021. (wwd.com; thedesignrelease.com) Apartamento’s role is part of the point. The Barcelona-founded magazine has built a following around domestic interiors and personal collections, and here it shifts that editorial approach into a branded exhibition built around what people read, not what they wear. (wwd.com; hypebeast.com) The exhibition also leans into the physical book at a moment when many design and fashion projects are framed for quick digital viewing. Jil Sander’s event notes describe the books as objects tied to memory, identity and relationships rather than just information. (fuorisalone.it; fashionunited.uk) By the end of the week, the showroom will have functioned less like a shop window than a temporary syllabus: 60 books, 60 selectors, and a fashion brand using Design Week to show its references in public. (wwd.com; breradesignweek.it)