Fashion

Eli Russell Linnetz is the Sam Levinson of fashion. He knows how to stir a controversy and lure the audience with aesthetics. The ERL lookbooks from the past seasons are great examples of that. But does the Californian designer know how to sustain a plot? His first IRL runway show at Pitti Uomo’s Palazzo Corsini in Florence make you question that. The juvenile faced Linnetz-cast cadre of real-life surfers from his real-life Venice Beach neighborhood walked down the neon-green venue in stardust-sequinned tailoring and silver lurex knits. The Uncle Sam-meets-Slash top hats and ’70s shaped tailored topcoats and shirts worn over starrily-spangled “wetsuits” created an impression in clothing that was only reinforced by the thwup-thwup of Huey rotors and Jim Morrison predicting “The End” on the soundtrack. As Linnetz concedes, his experience and instinct both lean towards costume as a form of messaging. It did feel like on set of David Lynch’s set of “Dune“. Accessories included hyper swollen reimaginings of the Etnies/Emerica/Globe style of early ’90s puffy skate shoes, plus some very Linnetz-specific rubber-framed eyewear that looked more like goggles than sunglasses. There was an irony embedded in ERL’s first real-world collection being so hyper-unreal; beneath that lurked a point of view about American masculine identities, hang-ups, and brittle wearable projections of power. But the general vision felt too misty and too Vetements-y.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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It’s back to groovy basics at The Elder Statesman. “Resort is holiday, so we tapped into a lot of our heritage, traditional kind of motifs,” Bailey Hunter, the brand’s creative director, said. “Florals, tie-dyes, stripes – all the things that we’re known for, we reinvented them in a way; and we’ve used a lot of new woven materials that we’ve brought into our library.” Materials – and yarn, especially – are king at Elder Statesmen. But the brand keeps on evolving into other categories. The yellow suit that opened the lookbook is a cashmere-cotton-wool twill made in Italy that feels like the softest and lightest denim. Another suit – the brand calls it “relaxed tailoring” – is made from Italian 50/50 cashmere and wool and comes in three colors: rose hip, dark green, and bark, in both men’s and women’s styles. A highlight of the collection was certainly the wool donegal made on a vintage loom in Italy in colorblocked squares of gray, navy, and wine. In the lookbook it appears as a wrap skirt secured with an oversized safety-pin and styled with a cashmere hand-painted crewneck sweater. Together, they’re youthfully punky and quite timeless.

A collaboration with Uggs is The Elder Statesman’s first foray into footwear. The clogs, mules, and boots made from patchworked sheepskin and decorated with “darning”-style embroidery are sure to become must-haves when they’re released later this year. A sporty tank and mini skirt made from hand-knit alpaca and cotton in various shades of blue, a wave patterned knitted cashmere shirt and pants, and a pair of knitted striped cargo pants in mixed bouclé yarns were more proof that the knitwear experimentation here is unparallelled. The bouclé cargos were worn with a black sweater featuring an intarsia illustration of eyes and the phrase “eye to eye it lasts,” a design that came from Greg Chait’s, the brand’s founder, grandmother Thelma. Chait said, “I feel like [the phrase] is about the collection.” Hunter finished the thought: “It’s about how it’s a lot better to see things in person, and see how everything feels.”