Simone Bellotti's take on Jil Sander is vital simply because the new creative director capably folded the house founder's intelligent, effortless codes into a modern context. Just like Sander's original designs, Bellotti's Jil Sander is as eternal as it is urgent, tastefully restrained but dynamic in its subtle freshness. But how to make present these streamlined shapes as exciting?

Or, as well-dressed Bellotti puts it in the notes for his debut Jil Sander campaign, premiered here by Highsnobiety: "Is it possible to take away while adding a personal signature?"

Bellotti's answer is to present his elegant garments in media res, worn with good taste and good grace in a campaign that highlights them in mild, intimate, human motion.

"What I want to explore since this first show and first collection is the interaction of humans and their bodies and how clothes become this medium of communication and contact," he tells Highsnobiety. "The clothes have details and openings that let the body come forward: in this first campaign I wanted to represent this genuine interest for each other."

The idea here is to frame, amplify, even exaggerate the body. Bellotti's garments may be exacting in form but their trim silhouettes belie the humanity that lies underneath. Narrow sleeves and just-so shoulders expose as much as they obscure and slashes that interrupt skirts and shirts reveal unexpected flashes of skin. The design is restrained by the results are dramatic, even if only subtly.

Bellotti's delicate balance manifests in a campaign of surprising intimacy, where charged expressions and gestures reveal as much as they hide. These images, like the clothes they depict, reveal as much as they do not. This is the give and take that makes the new Jil Sander feel so much like Jil Sander.

Highsnobiety has affiliate marketing partnerships, which means we may receive a commission from your purchase. Want to shop the products our editors actually love? Visit HS Shopping for recs on all things fashion, footwear, and beauty.