For one windy day, Jil Sander brought a dining table and a sofa onto a runway (no, not that kind of runway), and let British photographer Moni Haworth take flight. Haworth captured the house’s Fall/Winter 2026 collection by Simone Bellotti through the lens of a mini DV camera, tailing models Edie Campbell and Daisuke Ueda as they moved like two people mid-takeoff, caught between arrivals boards and sumptuous leathers, layovers and tactful draping.
“I wanted to convey tension and surprise with the least means possible,” says Bellotti. “Doing more with less is so very Jil Sander, but this time we explored rather eerie routes. There is a sense of elegance, filled with erotic electricity.” In the shoot, planes cut through the frame uninvited, and the tape grain accounts for at least half of the oh-so deliciously understated emoting.
Below, Haworth talks through shooting handheld in unpredictable weather, why a blurrier image tells the truest story, and how restraint—Jil Sander’s credo—can hold a body that’s coming slightly undone.
Simone Bellotti shared that for this campaign, “there is a sense of elegance, filled with erotic electricity.” How did you translate that tension into camera movement and lens choice?
We wanted to find a language for the collection itself to talk and perform, rather than simply being seen. There is always something erotic about a slightly undone elegance… We really wanted movement and feeling to tussle with sartorial authority in the imagery. By shooting handheld camera and asking a lot of impromptu improvisation from Edie and Daisuke, somehow the language revealed itself.
The private airport runway stands in for a home with no floor plan, complete with furniture exposed to open sky. What did that unscripted, exterior setting demand from you that a controlled set wouldn’t have?
Again, lucky for me as this is how I love to work, treading the line between the unexpected and the controlled. Having said that, the weather that day was dramatically unpredictable so we did get slightly terrified at times. [Laughs.]
Walk me through how you achieved the grainy, desaturated VHS treatment, and what you were hoping to convey.
I shot this on a mini DV tape camera. I love the way it interprets color and texture, since it adds to the abstract and slightly surreal vision of home and life that Simone was feeling for the collection. I also love an impressionist image more than a detailed high-resolution one. This adds to our concept of an elegance slightly undone.
Space Afrika’s “If This Is Hell” has lyrics moving at “breakneck speed,” and the whole narrative is deliberately fragmented. Did you shoot to the track, or did the edit find its rhythm afterward?
The track came after the shoot! It felt so absolutely perfect as soon as we heard it. It has a beautiful contemporary neurosis, which works so well with the footage both psychologically and rhythmically.
Did you shoot with both the short film and stills in mind from the start, or did the stills get chosen after the fact?
I always shoot with both in mind. It feels natural—watching movement and simultaneously seeing the stills forming themselves.
Jil Sander’s house language is built on restraint and “powerful simplicity.” What’s involved in the discipline of shooting for a brand like this? What did you have to resist doing?
Discussing the concept with [art directors] Stefanie [Barth] and Carina [Frey] pre-shoot, we talked a lot about Pina Bausch, dance, and the performance of connection via repetition. We wanted to avoid describing a personal intimacy here, rather creating a unique piece of performance situated somewhere outside the usual representation of home and relationships. I think this positioning aligns well with Simone’s work for the house.
You were shooting on an active-feeling runway, with real sky, real light, and no soundstage control. What surprised you on the day that ended up making the work better?
The best thing was suddenly seeing a plane taking off or maneuvering in the background, and having to shift the frame super fast to line up a good shot. Maybe this image sums up trying to balance the run-and-gun pacing with campaign-worthy images! We were so lucky to have Edie—totally unfazed by moving planes, crazy weather, running in heels, unusual direction… she’s a genius.
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