The problem with endangered creatures is that by the time you notice they’re in trouble, it’s probably too late to bring them back. The same can be said about subcultures. Beautiful or colorful, unusual and strange, largely unnoticed, yet distinct, members of subcultures consume, create, discard, and express themselves in completely new ways. completely different from the larger boring mass of humanity, and this makes them both escape and special. It also tends to spell their doom.
This thought popped into my head last week in Venice, where Dior Men takes over a major intersection in Los Angeles’ vibrant beachfront neighborhood, which for decades has symbolized skate and surf culture to host its menswear show. Etienne Russo, the brains behind the Villa Eugénie producer, painted the streets blue and created a 30-foot canvas wave backdrop for the event – a one-night stunt or a 10-minute stunt if you reduce the hour-long wait for the action to kick in, the months of lead and whatever redundancy it takes for honchos Dior to figure out that the brand needs a cure.
An IV drip dose of California has been prescribed. This is the model of designer Eli Russell Linnetz of the brand ERL. A world of Zelig fashion, Linnetz grew up at the beach. Although he studied film, Linnetz turned up in Kanye Westdesign studio and video director for Teyana Taylor; is Lady Gaga’s personal photographer; dress as soon as possible Rocky; reached the final of the prestigious LVMH award; and is an oddly common presence in the fields of Style.
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However, the Venice he would have known as a child of the 2000s looked very different from the city today. While Abbott Kinney Avenue (“AK” to locals), the town’s main commercial artery, was then a wide array of dive bars and second-hand shops. Here it is a slick strip of high-end retail stores, luxury restaurants and expensive wine bars.
That’s right, you still see surfers in wet clothes cycling with short boards under their arms and locals dressed sloppily in tie dye, fleece, Birkenstocks and checkered Vans. But the skate-rat-surf-hippie feeling that once defined the place has been largely replaced by the chic cashmere coats of the brothers who turned Venice into one of the country’s major tech hubs. West Bank.
Dior Show in Los Angeles’ Venice Quarter (Michael Tyrone Delaney / The New York Times)
A defining element of both surfing and skating cultures is that, for those engaged in those pursuits, a day job is a means of paying the bills so you can do what I love. (Ask any Southern California contractor whose crew disappears while surfing.) The way people dress for those sports is impromptu, unconscious, and largely motivated. by practicality and thrift. One pioneering surfer was Janet, mother of hotelier Sean MacPherson, who, in the days before wet suits were common, picked up cashmere sweaters from Goodwill to insulate her from the heat. Cold Pacific. That’s the feeling Kim Jones, the creative director of Dior Men, probably felt after he invited Linnetz to be a collaborator.
And though this partnership has produced something that is certainly appealing in terms of style, color palette, embellishment and proportions – loose trousers, jewel-encrusted track pants and oversized shorts, cardigans pearl-embroidered fisherman’s shoes, marl hoodies cut in the shape of waves, sneakers so neat they look as if their wearers forgot to take them out of the box – the result is an eyesore.
Forget the must-haves in satin satin lining Dior’s signature dove gray (and allegedly inspired by Gianfranco Ferré’s stint at the label), the essence of the show is sparkly little saddlebags, crossbody, and wallet-inspired Figure skater’s keychain, sure to earn subscriptions singing around the world.
Meanwhile, many local subcultures have been marginalized to the point of extinction. Venice, like so much of Southern California, is no longer a place where anyone can comfortably exist on the fringes. A fashion review is no natural place to point out the extreme extent of the state’s homelessness problem or even necessarily to acknowledge the prevalence of Los Angeles campgrounds and the fact that people have fallen asleep underneath bus shelters or highway overpasses.
However, drive to Dior Men show, this reviewer came across a typical scene – a man wandering the streets, a blanket over his head as if he were a defeated warrior. Incidentally, the final image from the Dior Men show is of a model wearing a chic cap and pulling what looks like a blanket.
The visual part of Linnetz is certainly unconscious. At least I hope it is.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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