Over the years, Veronica Etro has used her imagination to travel around the globe to source inspiration for her collections. But, this season, with the whole world suddenly experiencing imposed confinement, she discovered an interest for something that was right at her doorstep.
An avid LP collector, during the lockdown Etro listened to an old vinyl record, which probably once belonged to her grandparents, of classic Neapolitan music and that sweet, tuneful rhythm gave her the idea for the spring collection she presented on Thursday evening in a garage enriched with lush lemon trees.
An Italian summer was the theme of the lineup, which offered a lively, chic interpretation of the classic Riviera style. Marella Agnelli and Jackie Kennedy Onassis during their summer gatherings in Capri or Positano would have probably worn many of the outfits that Etro sent out on the catwalk.
They included Bermuda pants matched with comfortable knits printed with nautical motifs, fluid caftans in solid colors layered over coordinated pants, as well as terry cloth blazers and silk tunics splashed with archival foulard prints inspired by the opulent ceilings of Italian palazzos.
To pepper the lineup with a younger twist, Etro played with proportions, cutting knitted vests — embellished with the brand’s new Pegasus-Triton logo — super cropped and front-button skirts, paired with bikinis, ultra voluminous. Mannish striped shirts and paisley denim shorts became the uniform for the brand’s girls living their Mediterranean dream.
With the spring collection, Etro took a break from her past bohemian aesthetic and brought back a different, but authentic, the face of the brand, its more bourgeois one. In a moment dominated by uncertainty and fear, the designer found solace in happy memories, joyful colors and elements of the Italian resort lifestyle everybody loves.