ERL: Made In California

April 25, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

No one does California story-telling like Eli Russell Linnetz. Now, the ERL designer has taken a step further, and dropped a capsule collection entirely produced in the Golden State. Key shearling pieces came from sheared sheep that roam around the ERL studio alongside shearling waste from local farmers. In tandem with the California-made production, the collection leans into quintessential Americana styles – whether it be through denim or something as simple as plaid boxer shorts. I literally lost my mind for the cowboy sweater. The entire wardrobe is laden with jackets, flared bottoms, shin-length shorts, plaid shirts, heavyweight zip-ups with matching sweatpants, pocket tees and accessories. But the clear standout of the collection are the canary yellow shearling pieces that extend to an oversized jacket, bags and standout $28,000 chaps (hot). With its American-influenced aesthetic, the collection still channels the gritty-meets-sensual sentiments the brand is also known for.

The “Made in California” collection is available now online.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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High School Secrets. ERL AW24

February 7, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

There’s just that special “something” about ERL. For autumn-winter 2024, Eli Russell Linnetz returned to his favorite medium, the theatrical lookbook, and told another twisted story around his favorite theme: Californian adolescence. The context for this one was a Venice Beach high school during the late 1990s, and the designer obviously had great fun relating his characters to costumes and then sublimating those into clothes. The care that goes into his storytelling is highly impressive, but just as gripping are the care and details written into the garments. Linnetz was extra stoked to be showing sherpa-lined cotton-jersey pieces that were LA produced for the first time “because that’s our artisanship.” A carefully frayed California souvenir shirt and a washed-cotton combat chino with slyly referential ERL labeling were both close to ideal examples of their relative forms. A group of punk-y, grunge-y pieces hand-fashioned by Linnetz were genius bits of fantasy, just like the adapted vintage items. The collection ended with The-Virgin-Suicides-esque prom couple. The feeling of nostalgia orchestrated by Linnetz is never just for the aesthetics; it leaves you in a certain, hard-to-describe mood of suspense and uncertainty of what happens next.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Everybody Comes To Hollywood. Balenciaga Pre-Fall 2024

December 3, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Balenciaga‘s first-ever fashion show in Los Angeles had it all: the Kardashian-Calabasas flagship style, some Hitchcockian drama with a Lynchian twist, the taste of an Erewhon smoothie and even the H of the Hollywood sign as the backdrop. Demna called LA “my favorite city in the world,” saying, “all my cultural evolution, when I was a teenager growing up in this kind of post-Soviet vacuum, it really came from here, through movies, music – I mean, everything that I kind of absorbed, that later on started to kind of become my fashion references.” There was certainly something surreal about Balenciaga’s gothy black clad guests turning up en masse on a well manicured stretch of Windsor Boulevard in Hancock Park. The collection skewed SoCal, starting with the exercise clothes, gym bags, and souped-up sneakers of the first few looks. The circa Y2K velour jumpsuits and giant high-heeled shearling boots that came next will be familiar to readers of US Magazine, which would’ve been another way the young Demna got his celebrity content.

Back in those pre-social media days, the paparazzi lurked outside hipster coffee-shops. Circa 2023, it’s Erewhon smoothies that the stars are clutching. Timed to yesterday’s event, Balenciaga collaborated with the LA grocer on a juice. Made in part with activated charcoal powder, it’s as black as the stretchy turtleneck and tight jeans worn in the show by Brigitte Nielsen. “I don’t know what’s in it,” Demna said. “I just wanted it to be black.” The designer (officially) rejected the idea that he approached the collection – or LA itself – with irony, but there’s something comically perverse about a paper grocery bag made in leather. The sensational evening clothes were as Hollywood as the rest of the show, but it was easier to read earnestness in their elegance and drama. There was a respectful nod to Cristobal Balenciaga in the grand volumes of a white wedding gown whose funnel neck extended to just below the model’s eyes. Two other dresses conjured post-coital bed sheets tied at the bust, if bed sheets came in patent leather. These were pure Demna.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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La Ruta del Bacalao. Luis De Javier SS24

November 1, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Luis De Javier, Spanish-born, London-based designer, presented his spring-summer 2024 colection in a space smack in the middle of Hollywood, just above Sunset Boulevard. The designer brought on a new stylist – his mentor, Riccardo Tisci. Judging by these few sentences you can already predict this was a hot fashion moment. Against a techno soundtrack, de Javier presented a collection that has evolved from his previous ones, with a matured sense of proportion and volume. He continued his exploration of political commentary through clothing inspired by Spain’s 1990s hardcore rave movement, La Ruta del Bacalao. Since it was shut down by an oppressive government, the collection imagines a utopia in which the movement would still be alive today. Corseting was the common denominator, as it was in past seasons, communicated in different materials such as leather, canvas, and latex, and layered under and over other pieces. A latex coat with exaggerated shoulders draped fluidly; constructed as a corset or dress, it covered the body as if it were poured over it. The bling came by way of chains and cords draped over jersey dresses, and unlikely materials, such as extra-long ballerina nails, that were reimagined as dramatic fringe on an asymmetrical evening dress. Mixing club kid vibes and Cristobal Balenciaga-inspired could easily go wrong. Tisci’s mentorship lends refinement to de Javier’s vision. Where his past collections had obvious references, this one is more subtle, and what might have previously been rough around the edges now came with the romantic darkness Tisci is known for. Tisci’s touch in the styling was evident as well, via the restrained color palette, the delicate mix of lace and leather, and belts cinched tightly across the bust. The jersey t-shirts worn over the head recalled a nun’s veil, which is in line with the religious references Tisci used during his time at Givenchy. This was a strong, evocative collection, and also a big reminder that fashion needs more of Riccardo Tisci.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Call For Peace. Imitation Of Christ SS24

October 24, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Imitation Of Christ‘s Tara Subkoff created the term “up cycling” in 2000. 23 years later, it is a prevalent – and relevant – phenomenon in the fashion industry. The designer is more than fine with this; she wants others to “imitate” that sustainability-forward practice. With fashion’s ever-returning obsession with grunge and the 90’s, Imitation Of Christ’s spring-summer 2024 collection – which opened this Los Angeles Fashion Week with a dance performance including a blessing in every major world religion – convinces with gorgeous slip-dresses, DIY details and gender-blurring silhouettes. The hand-painted dove on billow-y gowns and utilitarian boiler suits is a fitting call for global peace. The symbol circles back to the spiritual side of Subkoff’s fashion performance, where the harmony of prayers and pujas created a peaceful celebration of all religions practiced alongside one another with respect and tolerance. One of the white dresses bore a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson that read “Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding”. As simple as that yet so hard to comprehend for the politics of this world.