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. Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram!
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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. Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram! By the way, did you know that I’ve started a newsletter called Ed’s Dispatch? Click here to subscribe!
There is no other brand like ERL. By that I mean no one dissects the codes of Americana like Eli Russell Linnetz. And nobody in fashion does theatrics like the Venice Beach-based designer. The authentic, evocative story-telling, which is a combination of ERL’s convincingly vintage-y clothes and the brand’s unique cast of models, just can’t be faked. The designer’s story for autumn-winter 2023 season follows a family that strikes it rich after traveling the Oregon trail, then falls into dysfunction and deterioration across the generations. The zine, which Linnetz titled “Greed: The American Gold Rush“, opens with “pioneer chic” dresses in drab checks and a red bandana print and ends with a Wall Street descendent living through the housing crisis of the 2020s in a football jersey with a homemade bomb strapped to his chest, planning his own demise. It’s a dystopian view of the American dream, reinforced by the use of imagery from the film Easy Rider – tagline: “A man went looking for America. And couldn’t find it anywhere.” But the collection isn’t as dark as the tale Linnetz tells with his photos. Though there are T-shirts printed with the words “Rent Me,” he wears his generation’s pessimism lightly. He’s too fascinated with the major and minor arcana of American life – from the stars and stripes of the flag on down to swap meet sourced vintage prints and the 1970s phenomenon that was iron-on T-shirts – to be truly negative in his outlook. A click through the images will tell you that this is actually Linnetz’s most upbeat collection yet, and not just because he devoted a chapter to the psychedelia of the 1970s, with flower children printed parkas and snowpants, and airbrushed T-shirts in cotton that feels likes it’s been loved and lived-in for years. He had fun with his Wall Street-wear too, collaging classic menswear plaids with surfboard illustrations by the legendary surfer Gerry Lopez on jackets and coats. The back of the coat is DIY’d with one of the 50-odd iron-ons in the lineup. Linnetz pointed to his experience collaborating with Kim Jones at Dior Men for his push into tailoring, and said there will be more of it in upcoming seasons.
Collage by Edward Kanarecki. Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram!
Eli Russell Linnetz is more than a designer – he’s a a storyteller. For his ERL collections he creates mini-narratives. This season’s stars an architect looking back on his youth. In the look book pictures, which Linnetz casts and shoots himself, there’s a dad and three boys – “mom’s left and it’s just the guys”- surfer and skater kids from the neighborhood, and a love interest. They wear a mix of Venice-Beach-cool essentials like tie-dye tees, peasant dresses, grungy flannels, and corduroy flares airbrushed at the hems with beach scenes. Then there are the ERL staples—waffle-weave long johns, star-dyed denim, striped mohair sweaters, tube socks. The comic strip pants and matching bedspread that open this slideshow will be as collectible as the vintage 1950s comic book he lifted them from. A collage print of surfers at sunset turns an otherwise basic slip dress into an object of interest. And the clash-up of neon camouflage puffers, shirts, and skate pants is hard to resist. There’s a lot of potential for ERL and Linnetz, a creative who has his feet planted both in Hollywood and the fashion business. His collaboration with Dior’s Kim Jones last spring established his name in the industry even further. Linnetz’s next step? Directing his first feature-length film. When he gets around to making that project, he’ll naturally be designing its costumes too. Expect the unexpected.
Collage by Edward Kanarecki. Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram!
You could see the crest of a 30-foot blue nylon wave from several blocks away on Pacific Avenue in Venice Beach, part of the impressive ocean-themed runway set design that was constructed for Dior Men’s show last night. With Californian designer Eli Russell Linnetz of ERL signed on as the house’s latest guest designer, it made sense that creative director Kim Jones would choose to show the capsule collection against the backdrop of this well known Los Angeles beachfront. “I grew up in Venice Beach, I came to this street all the time,” said Linnetz speaking at a preview before the show. “This was basically my backyard.” Linnetz’s story is straight out of Hollywood. A film student turned designer, he cut his teeth in Kanye West’s artistic studio, directing videos for the likes of Teyana Taylor. Since launching his ERL brand in 2018, his fanbase has swelled year on year and includes the likes of A$AP Rocky and Hailey Bieber. He’s also one of several bright young finalists up for this year’s LVMH Prize. “We have lots of people in common,” said Jones, explaining that the pair were introduced by mutual friends and started the conversation over DM about a year ago. When Jones arrived at ERL HQ in Venice Beach to work on the capsule, their creative chemistry was almost instant. “I was 99% excited at the idea, 1% scared that I would lose myself, just because Kim has such a strong vision of the world and his collections are so refined and striking. My world is so much more chaotic,” said Linnetz. “But the second Kim came to the studio, it felt easy, seamless.”
The pair used Linnetz’s date of birth, 1991, as a jumping off point for the collection, mining the Dior archives for clothes created that year. “I think people would assume that I would be more into the Galliano archive because it’s so theatrical, but actually through my research I become more interested in diving into something that hadn’t been touched before,” said Linnetz. They landed on the maximalist elegance of Gianfranco Ferré’s designs for the French House, the kind of opulent tailoring you might have seen sauntering down Rodeo Drive at the time. Cue the opening look, a gently padded silk satin suit in Dior’s signature dove gray created with the lining twisted inside out and worn with wide-legged pants puddling over chunky skater sneakers. It was a sweet marriage of Parisian executive realness and SoCal cool, or what you might call “California Couture,” a slogan that appeared on at least a few cozy turtleneck sweaters. Several of ERL’s quirky design flourishes were filtered through a sophisticated lens. There were baggy skater boy shorts galore, only done for evening with an eye-catching beaded trim. Clearly Linnetz and Jones had a lot of fun dreaming up the accessories. According to Linnetz, the pillbox hats worn backwards with beaded veils were a cheeky nod to Jackie O. Strung on a heavy duty gold chain and worn across the body, the tiny tinsel saddle bags were a very elevated take on the classic skater keychain wallet that are bound to be a hit with Dior Men’s streetwise fashion guys alongside those ingenious sneakers. The yin-yang motif Linnetz is known for got a look in too and was rendered in an intricate embellished wave on a gray marl hoodie. “It’s interesting to see how Kim works because he really approaches everything like a film director,” said Linnetz. “And that’s very familiar to me.” In a sense the bigger picture here felt decidedly fresh, an example of what can happen when two creative minds from seemingly different ends of the fashion spectrum – and different sides of the world – come together to exchange ideas and find common ground. In the new fashion landscape, playing it safe hardly feels modern. Exchanging ideas in a freewheeling way is the new wave.
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