This season Kean leads his circle of poets and young dreamers back to Nature. A new film sets fire to this journey through the leafy woods and icy air of the great outdoors, but it quickly unfolds as an interior voyage, one that taps into quieter spaces within the spirit. The same reflective, powerful mood pierces the heart of this humble collection. It is rustic, romantic and radical in its lack of noise. It barely whispers its import. Rather, it beguiles with tiny prized details and a hidden richness that can only be truly discovered by the touch.
A call back to Nature echoes Etro’s original roots in menswear. Supremely crafted cashmeres, fuzzy mohair wools, glowing jacquards and silky wools are unfurled with a renewed urgency. Traditional patterns such as plaids, checks and bold stripes are old-school masculine, even preppy, but newly calibrated with a bucolic mood. There is not a tie in sight. Jacket trims are subtly tattered, pockets are cut like oversized work wear, frayed edges on cashmere sweaters are masterfully created with looms, not scissors.
Everything is real, but the wonder is unleashed only on close inspection. Classics are shaken up, but not broken. Leaf patterns have been gently printed over plaids. Paisley tweed effects materialize from the surface of a silk wool jacquard jacket. A plaid effect is woven onto a herringbone jacket or printed into eight colours across a wool jacket. Pattern builds, banging finally with an animal pulse; leopard and tiger stripes emerge on shaggy jacquard coats or cashmere and wool jackets paired with dandy shades of purple, polenta or green suede pants.
The volumes are unbound and as free as the young men climbing through the wilderness. Shoulders are soft, trousers are slightly oversized with dropped crotches, necks are wrapped easily with oversized wool and cashmere plaid scarves for a whole new, fluid look. Thick cashmere sweaters with a single, bold vertical cable and embroidered sleeves symbolize the new simplicity. Jumpsuits exude the manual utility of workwear, as do heavy soled monk strap shoes worn with brightly coloured winter socks and welder’s eyewear. Coats with Gimmo Hendrix embroidery and iron bottons finish off the functional new uniforms.
For evening, nothing is out loud. Night has fallen on the wilderness. And the only noise is the slight gleam of gold embroidery on jacket cuffs or a Fortuny-like sheen on jacket and shirt borders. Black embroideries peer in and out of velvet jacket lapels. Even a fully sequined velvet jacket barely ripples through the air. The canvas is still uncertain, half finished. Nature has unlocked wide open spaces, full of possibility, where one can disconnect and yet fully connect to a hidden sort of bliss.
