Eli Russell Linnetz is the sort of person you would love to hate were he not so talented, hardworking, and kind. A multi-hyphenate visual artist, stage designer, photographer, and director, Linnetz began working on his own label, ERL, at the encouragement of Dover Street Market’s Adrian Joffe and Ronnie Cooke Newhouse. Now in its third full season, the collection has expanded; it includes ERL takes on everything from swimwear and long-johns (quickly becoming the It Item of the men’s season) to Behind the Candelabra tuxedos and silver puffer pants. The big takeaway: There’s nothing Linnetz can’t do.
That seemingly infinite potential is what makes the things Linnetz does do all the more interesting. Titled “The Final Frontier,” his fall 2021 collection riffs on the Space Age, the psychedelic ’70s, showy ’80s culture, and a sort of timeless collegiate Americana that always permeates his work. The thread that marries such disparate items as a frat sweater—the Greek letters spell out EAT ME—and spiky ski bum hat is Linntez’s irreverent sense of humor. He describes the collection as funny, though he’s dead serious about his work. A sense of levity and surreal bit of nonsense is welcome in the at-times far too serious world of fashion.
Linnetz’s intimate photography and cast of true Cali beach boys only help make the case for his clothing. Scantily hanging off the dudes’ bodies, the clothes telegraph the laissez faire lifestyle of the West Coast—but of course they are tailored to the strict precision of Dover Street Market Paris. Wide wale corduroy jeans have a constructed slouch, hoodies feature seaming that mimics wave patterns, and fluffy shearling is actually made from a new corn-fiber material to be more sustainable. The collection also includes a ski collaboration with Salomon, neoprene cowboy belts, and a full range of swimwear. There’s an element of costume, of dressing up, and of changing your clothing to change your life. It’s a sort of everyday escapism. Maybe freeing your mind—and your wardrobe—will be the final frontier of the 2020s?
