Milan is already throwing up structures for next year's Food Expo, so Kean Etro was hardly ahead of the curve in devoting his new collection to comestibles. But that didn't make the inspiration any less strange. In the grand scheme of Italian culture, food has always been a more logical fit with film and fine art (Etro reminded us of Arcimboldo's 16th-century vegetable paintings) than with fashion. Not that logic is one of Kean Etro's lodestones, but he kind of showed why food and fashion are an odd couple, when one model walked by in a shirt and track pants printed with plates of seafood. Gamberoni are not glamorous. Bivalves are not beautiful. And tomato sauce embroideries only underscored the risk when the real thing meets white jeans on a summer holiday.
Etro being something of a philosopher, there was the obvious subtext that you are what you eat. So if you wear what you eat, you're punching the point home even harder. The prints of pasta and shellfish were a trifle indigestible, especially when combined with Etro's swirling paisleys writ large, but the culture around enjoying food in the summer translated much more successfully into clothing. Blue- and red-checked tablecloths, for instance, were a cliché splendidly transmogrified into suits by the tailors Etro acknowledged so movingly on last season's catwalk. Gelato colors were celebrated in an uplifting sequence of separates. And you could say that the new emphasis on athleticwear was all about working off the last meal, as much as the generously cut double-breasted jackets and trousers would gracefully conceal any excess avoirdupois.
A musical note: The live soundtrack was supplied by Hang Massive, an English duo encountered on the street in Goa by Kean and his wife, Constanza. They play hang drums, with a sound like a softer, sweeter steel drum and they're worth YouTubing. An Etro show is always an education on some level.
