Review of Etro Spring 2024 Men’s Fashion Show
Marco de Vincenzo Dives Deeper
By Mark Wittmer
For his second menswear collection at Etro, Marco de Vincenzo dove into the house’s legacy of lush printed fabrics (not just paisley!) and adventure while continuing to push for more young-generation appeal.
While the eclectic collection got a bit bogged down in trying to make too many references at once, it was a strong continuation of de Vincenzo’s revitalization of Etro heritage.
There was in fact relatively little paisley to be seen compared to how many other prints were going on. Floral and geometric patterns that trace their way back to Italy’s colonial holdings were brought to life through the house’s mastery of fabric and craft; there were printed silk shirts, intarsia woven jackets, plush knits, embroidery, and more.
While these prints attest to centuries of cultural heritage and history, an active effort was made to realize them in contemporary fashion through layering and volume that made nods to streetwear.
With so much going on with the fabrics themselves, it might have been a good idea to opt for a more consistent and reductive approach to silhouette and to keep the external references more minimal. The references to astrological manuscripts on the one hand and accessible, outdoorsy iconography (we hate to say it but those patches and that cardigan feel like Target doing Patagonia) felt like unnecessary additions that were weirdly shoehorned in. These came together in a jersey-like silk shirt that was just doing way too much and felt out of place.
Marco de Vincenzo is still very new to Etro and thus in the process of finding out what parts of the house’s identity he wants to explore and how they fit within his own vision and talents as a designer. It’s exciting to see him so eager to move in a lot of new directions, and a lot of them did pay off in this collection. If moving forward he can match this knack for pattern and excitement to take on new visual references with more focus and directness, we think we will see Etro at the best it can be.
