Pitti Uomo: Jil Sander by Raf Simons

Pitti Uomo kicks off in Florence tomorrow, and the headliner is Raf Simons, who will unveil his Spring 2011 menswear collection for Jil Sander on Thursday night. Mr Simons is bringing Sander to Florence to mark his five years as the brand’s creative director; he says it's a fitting celebration of his work, "It’s a whole event. We’re bringing people to an estate in the hills, showing outside in a tremendous garden with a view of the city below. Afterwards, there will be a dinner. We are creating an atmosphere of celebration. Next season, back to Milan."
His assessment of fashion now:
"I’d like to see fashion slow down a bit. What freaks me out about fashion today is the speed—the speed of consuming, the speed of ideas. When fashion moves so fast, it takes away something I always loved, which is the idea that fashion should be slightly elusive. Hard to grasp, hard to find. We say this word, elite, like it’s bad to be elite, but is it? Shouldn’t there be some things, fashion included, that you can enjoy as creativity, as a message that requires thinking over? I’d like there to be time for that again." - Raf Simons