Now Is/Was Forever: New collections from luxury sportswear pioneer JET SET

JET SET has been a leader in luxury sportswear since 1969, when it began purveying high-end ski attire to the fashionable St. Moritz resort crowd the label is named for. Cultural production has changed since then, particularly in the last decade or two: in the age of the Internet, hierarchies have been upturned; “high” and “low,” pop and niche, traditional and experimental all occupy the same plane of existence – as potential collaborators, not as opposites. The archive – digital or material, of past, present, and even future work – can be mined and recombined for brand new visions, without regard for tedious things like chronology or single narratives. Now under the creative direction of designer Michael Michalsky, former design head of German giants adidas and MCM, JET SET descends from the Alps (and ostensibly reaches sea level) with newly introduced luxury beach and activewear that combs the label’s 20th century heritage, for an expanded collection that is very much of the 21st.

Taking inspiration from hits and cult items of past decades, the JET SET Spring/Summer 2020 collection uproots 1960s ski chic for a trip through the decades, channeling the label’s iconic contributions to fashion in the 1980s and 1990s. Of course, JET SET’s latest releases keep some of the iconography of its early days: the striking star that featured in the architecture of the brand’s first brick and mortar store, for instance, appears in new Star Monogram track pants and jackets. Meanwhile, the entire collection reflects the label’s longstanding use of bold colors, graphic patterns, and breakthrough fabrics that cross from performance into the every day (but never the ordinary). The season reboots JET SET’s 80s denim diffusion line, Blue System – including the cult favorite “US 1” jean, back by popular demand from fans of the legendary releases – updated with quality, Italian-made materials and innovative fits and finishes as a new cornerstone for both men and women. Original archival prints featuring pink and green 80s “Animal Camou” and signature pop art-infused “Pin Ball” motifs appear respectively on a silk windbreaker-style “sweatshirt” and vintage-style bomber – all made with heritage techniques and luxury materials.

Even Michalsky’s archivally sourced creations are “genderless” and “ageless,” according to JET SET, reflections of a futurist vision and execution yet very much products of the Zeitgeist and its contact with the past. The products are also designed to be global, unapologetically fun, and above all adaptable – which is exactly what’s required by the present day jet set itself, for whom connections are formed as much digitally as they are IRL, and community emerges in virtual as well as local terrains.

Available online and in stores worldwide, the JET SET Spring/Summer 2020 collection is shot by Maxime Ballesteros, modeled by talents Débora (Core Management) and Loco Candy, and styled by Christan Stemmler at the Waldorf Astoria Berlin – appropriately complete with views of the German city’s past, present, and future landscapes.

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