Jil Sander is a German fashion designer known for minimalist designs and her perfume line. It is also the name of the fashion house she founded, Jil Sander AG. Her minimalist trademarks include striking silhouettes, high-end fabrics, and meticulous detail, emphasizing quality over flash. Her work descends from that of Coco Chanel, as opposed to the bleeding-edge esthetic of Lagerfeld and Gaultier or the trendiness of sportswear design, as exemplified by the like of Giorgio Armani and Calvin Klein.

She grew up near Hamburg, studying textile design in Krefeld. She worked as a fashion editor at the German woman's magazine Petra before opening her first boutique in 1969. In 1973, at the age of 24, she founded her eponymous fashion house. In 1999 Prada Group bought a 75% share in her company. Six months later, she left after confrontations with Prada CEO Patrizio Bertelli. The house, not surprisingly, faltered without the designer who defined it. In May 2003, after her noncompete clause expired, she returned to the Jil Sander label under Prada, only to leave it again in November 2004 when she couldn't agree with Bertelli's plan of giving-up the contributary work-shops in Germany in favour of the shops in Italy owned by Prada.