“I Would Love to Be at a Fashion House”—Eli Russell Linnetz on ERL’s First IRL Show and His Move From Venice to Florence

Hi, Eli! The guest designer slot at Pitti is very special, and often signifies some wider shift in a designer’s story. Does that apply to you?

My background is I’m a screenwriter. I’m more of a filmmaker than a designer, as you know. I was doing so much for other people that I never really had the chance to do something for myself, which is why I created ERL I never really intended at first to sell a single piece. It started as me doing something for myself, going back to my roots, and the authenticity of Venice Beach. It was just the medium in which I was expressing myself.

Now I want to show a different side of myself while remaining true to Venice Beach. This collection is named Eli Russell, which is my name. I would love to be at a fashion house, and I do feel that I have more to say. So I think this is a big departure in terms of where I am going while maintaining a line with where I have come from. The collection is all Made In Italy by hand, all artisanal. It’s all quite different from what I have done before…

No spoilers! But in vaguer terms, how is it a departure?

Like you said, Pitti is a platform for one-off expressions. And there was this part of myself I felt I was not feeding. I kind of see the world through costume design, and I have never really been about dressing the everyday—even if I kind of fell into that. But you will see there is a huge departure in this collection, in form, in color, in everything. I’m exploring things I never have before and pushing myself.

You said you’d love to be at a fashion house. Is there a tension between barefoot Venice Beach Eli and the Eli who is thinking about that role?

It’s not tension, but I have evolved. And that place [a fashion house] has become a platform from which I now think I could have something to say… Because I feel like I’ve told 0.1 percent of the stories that I want to tell. And I’m at a place where I’m ready to explore bigger pictures, in the same way that there’s a difference between making an indie film and a blockbuster.