ETRO SS2017 Clouds Meet The Sea Men Collection

Kean Etro plunges into the line where the sea joins the sky, expanding his view of fashion into a void of soul-calming, infinite blue. The colours of the sea, from steely azure, to deep midnight, to brilliant sapphire, both envelop and guide this voyage, creating a new message of powerful subtly.

 Here, the ultimate wardrobe for a modern man emerges by using the most classic of menswear colours, but reconceived in totally simple, all natural codes.

For the first time, the collection is shown on Zero Kilometre models: a group of freedom seekers, song writers, tattoo artists, bohemians, father in loves, happy lawyers, biker brokers and poets all plucked from the family living rooms, artist studios and streets of Milan, showing that fashion is nothing without a chorus of individuals.

The Ikat print symbolises the season’s new tale, its watery, imperfect surface underscoring the collection’s uncertain, irregular quality. Like knotted clouds against a sky, the prints dissolve into infinite shades of deep indigo blues.

The monochromatic colours allow patterned pieces to be mixed and matched simply and effortlessly. Stripes balloon from oversized to mini versions on woven suiting, or as blue ribbons stitched onto cotton tees, printed onto canvas jackets, or woven into fil coupe cotton trousers. Paisley appears with the slightest whisper of a printed overlay.

Garments possess the great patina of having been lived in. Every object is different. Most are frayed. Some are snagged. Many are marked by an intended impurity that renews traditions in menswear.

Suits, marked by microscopic, painstakingly achieved impurities, bring slight uneven weaves to pin stripes. Madder, a deep-dying technique, creates an irregularity in prints as well as a lived in overlay on basket woven leather jackets with floral silk linings. Materials remain deeply luxurious, from super buttery suedes, couture-quality denim, fil-a-fil shirts, and yet they whisper their import. The craft of these fabrics is immediately felt, as if they’ve been home woven with a rural touch.

Origami folds cover the front of cotton tuxedo shirts, an indigo knitted thread cardigan has the feel of a fishing net. Deep indigo denim, meanwhile, is completely reconceived and elevated on kimono or bomber jackets and trousers; it is as light as silk, as razor sharp as a shapely satin.

The silhouettes this season have the loosened ease of a seaside fisherman’s uniform. The mood is resolutely relaxed, allowing an ease in the draping of fabrics. Small jackets, several in kimono style, have billowing volumes, layered over white cotton embroidered V neck t-shirts. Sleeves of impeccable fil-a-fil shirts are rolled, so too are the ankles of loose-fit, cropped pants worn with Goodyear-constructed lace up shoes, or barefoot.

A new personal message, sewn onto the tags inside each garment and composed straight from the heart, expresses the ethos of this intimate collection and its celebration of individuality: “Fatto a mano, con Amore, for You, on the Italian Peninsula.”