Fashion
Poetic Paisley | Etro
Thursday, October 08, 2015
“My father always told us that we could do what we wanted in life. But he said, ‘If
you work here, you have to start from scratch,’ Kean Etro
Paisley might originate in India, but the modern fashion world associates it with the
Italian textile company Etro. Founded in 1968 by Gerolamo “Gimmo” Etro, the
company continues to supply the finest fabrics—typically, colourfully patterned, and
often still paisley—to ready-to-wear designers (Marc Jacobs, Dries Van Noten) and
haute couturiers (Christian Lacroix, Ungaro, Valentino) alike. Since 1996, Etro has
also shown its own prêt-à-porter collection on the runway in Milan.
Etro remains a family concern, with all four of Gimmo Etro’s children involved.
Jacopo, the eldest, oversees the textiles, home, and accessories divisions; Kean
handles menswear; Ippolito, the business end of things; and Veronica, the youngest,
designs womenswear.
Kean once described the house’s approach to design as “poetic, not
aggressive,” and those words could well be applied to his sister’s ready-to-wear
collection. No matter what Veronica’s touchstone is in a given season—maybe
science fiction, or Dada, or Russia, or sixteenth-century armour—the end result is
always bohemian, usually executed in a blithe mix of prints and patterns.
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