Etro

Etro is a Milan designer founded by Gimmo Etro in 1968 and now Gimmo's daughter, Veronica, is the current womenswear designer, and her brother, Kean, handles the menswear line. Colourful prints are Etro's thing, patterns splashed everywhere it's an amazing current hippie style. These are some outfits from the Fall 2011 RTW collection.

What I love most about Etro, is that the designs have amazing prints and bold colours that of the hippie style, but they have such a modern twist to them, with using fur, and the cuts and styles of the clothes which are very modern. What is also amazing is Etro is a Milan designer, and Milan is know as the “grey city” well not in the case of Etro I don't think they have ever designed something dull. There is colour everywhere, and it's exciting. You can see the love and happiness that has gone into these clothes and designs, which makes it a lot more fantastic to look at with the brightness and blooming colour each pattern and design brings a new ethnic and abstract feel.

I could easily see a hippie of these days pulling off some of these outfits. They are so refreshing to look at with the mixed up patterns that shouldn’t go together but yet it still works perfectly fine, it doesn’t seem to matter that her designs are so bold, because the way these outfits are put together is so smart, the cut is so slick that having this much bold print and colour together doesn't matter. What also makes her designs look so hippie like is that the prints are all taken from the 60’s, using the retro colours and the big bold floral pattern. Although the patterns can be said to be 60’s inspired, I’m not too sure if it is intentional, I think it’s more to follow in her fathers footsteps than anything, her father set up the business in 1968, and these styles would have been very in, and I think for her, these designs are more to keep her fathers spirits alive in the design than the love for the hippie style itself.

   I think it’s the family love and happiness that has made this business work for 43 years, that makes the clothes and designs so special, each one looks like it’s designed with the same desire as the first design would have been. I also think this is why the clothes are so big and bold, and give me the feel of hippie. A hippie was all about love and happiness, and whether it was intentional or not the hippie vibe comes through. I really hope that Etro stays a strong family company for many years to come because their designs definitely bring me happiness.