The invitation was a tape measure. So was the catwalk. And the first outfit featured a navy suit banded by…you guessed it. In a season that has already seen plenty of lip service paid to the tailor’s craft, was Kean Etro about to take the literal measure of the modern male ? Well, not exactly. The measurements he was interested in were typically a little more conceptual and obtuse, having to do with gauging the quality of a man’s life. Given that Kean is a fashion designer, you might safely assume the addition of some Etro outfits would improve that life, and that assumption wasn’t far off the mark -especially when you’re dealing with someone with as unique a color sense as his. You don’t often see yellow in menswear. Here, it was everywhere, in tones from mustard to chrome. There was orange, too, in a hooded cable-knit cardigan thrown over a velvet suit in deepest grape.
Etro’s signature tailoring was present (and correct) in the mixes of pattern and texture that are the label’s staple. There was also a major new focus on hand technique : printing (the stripes on shirts and jackets were printed, not woven); stenciling; and, most striking of all, a method of dyeing called shibori. It loaned an effect alternately dip- and tie-dyed to the hems of jackets and waistcoats, one of which was paired with embossed-leather trousers, a tweed jacket, and paisley shoes. Come to think of it, the life that particular combo suits might actually be worth taking the measure of.
