If there’s one thing Etro customers can be credited with, it’s the ability to feel at ease at every latitude. The globe-trotting nature and eclectic spirit embedded in the brand has been perpetuated by Marco De Vincenzo over the past three years in collections that alternately swung between spotlighting the house codes and casting a light on his own vision.
The pre-collections have often been more effective in striking that balance. Case in point: the pre-fall 2026 collection, where the brand’s signature visual exuberance was used to convey the sharper message that home is simply everywhere for the Etro gang, bedecked in vibrant patterns and color schemes winking to rich interiors and blurring geographical borders.
The opening section, which had a more daywear focus, evoked the Shetland Islands and cozy cottages with its blend of tapestry-like patterns, mixing everything from dense botanical motifs nodding to old-school wallpapers to tartan and plaid galore and the house’s beloved paisley.
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“I like to imagine this woman almost camouflaging and disappearing in the environment she lives in,” said De Vincenzo, a fan of the approach from the beginning as it nods to the origins of Etro, which began with home collections.
While some pieces interpreted the theme literally, like the velvet corsets and pants that seemed to be cut from plush sofas, others expressed the Scottish reference more subtly, such as the handsome leather pieces with dégradé color effects inspired by the Northern Lights.
As the lineup progressed, Far Eastern echoes and orientalism took over, especially on the charming outerwear that ran the gamut from chunky jacquard coats and meaty overprinted shearling jackets and trench coats to embroidered jackets and kimono coats.
Thick knitted pieces with frayed trims offered handsome deconstructed alternatives, conveying a blanket-like effect and heavy tactile feeling that contrasted with billowing print dresses and the formfitting frocks and separates that closed the lineup.
“In the end, to stay in our own territory pays off commercially,” De Vincenzo said. “Sometimes you feel less contemporary than you’d like to be, because the world isn’t as colorful and eccentric….All this might not look aligned with the historical moment we’re living. But in truth, for us and our customer it is, so it feels right to indulge in it.”
