Kean Etro has so successfully established an image for the Etro man—a thinking man with an appetite for adventure—that you kind of feel sorry for his little sister, Veronica Etro, who has had to carve a niche out of nothing. She's looked here, looked there, but she's just been fishing. All too rarely has she latched on to something that feels right for the brand. Still, she's getting there. Today's show was a clearly defined statement of intent. Etro's Mitteleuropa dandyism translated appealingly into lean, tailored looks that used the family's signature paisley as a building block. Not in a particularly respectful way, mind. Laser-cut into a patchwork on a net gown, printed on a sheer top, woven into trousers that were legging-tight, paisley proved itself to be a profoundly alluring thing. As alluring, in fact, as a tracery of tattoos on skin.
Perhaps it was that sensual association that spurred Veronica on to such extremes as the perforated leather ruff that limned a velvet jacket, or the hard-edged combo of black leather and fishtailed velvet. If there was one word that worked for the whole collection, it was flare. Flare in the leather peplum belts, flare in those fishtailed gowns, flare in the godet skirts. It took discipline to make them all work. Veronica is clearly little sister no longer.
