Marco De Vincenzo resurrects ETRO‘s animalistic iconography in a collection that positions menswear as both camouflage and plumage.
In the dim stylish back rooms of a Brera Trattoria, far from the clinical white cubes that typically house fashion presentations, Marco De Vincenzo staged something closer to a séance than a runway show. Mannequins stood frozen in place, their human features obscured by Venetian papier-mâché masks depicting foxes, owls, rams, and bears. The effect was deliberately unsettling: a well-dressed menagerie with impeccable table manners, gathered for a meeting whose purpose remained tantalizingly unclear.
Conceptual Framework
The collection’s title, “Animen: Rebooted,” signals De Vincenzo’s intent to excavate rather than merely reference. He returns to a 1997 photographic campaign conceived by Kean Etro during his tenure as creative director, one that explored physiognomy and the notion that human traits often mirror animal ones. The original campaign suggested that our most refined behaviors rest on fairly primal instincts. De Vincenzo found this tension between the civilized and the feral to be fertile ground for exploration, using the archival imagery not as a literal citation but as a psychological framework.
LATEST FALL WINTER 2026 MENSWEAR COLLECTIONS
“I thought the imagery was genius,” De Vincenzo explained, and so he brought it back. But this was no nostalgic exercise. The designer consulted with Kean Etro to understand the deeper meaning behind the animal iconography, seeking the intellect behind the instinct. The result feels less like an archive pull and more like a knowing throwback: odd, slightly camp, and conceptually ambitious.
Material Language and Construction
The garments themselves straddled the line between bourgeois propriety and wild eccentricity. De Vincenzo cast his Animen in the low light of a forest at dusk, which felt like their natural habitat. The palette ran to dense browns, velvety greens, and sensuous garnet reds, the kind of shades that suggest camouflage, or at least discretion. These were not colors designed to attract attention but to communicate belonging to a particular ecosystem.
Robust tweeds in shades of tawny brown and rust evoked a weekend in the country, but closer inspection revealed lapels adorned with feathers. The texture was crucial here, grounding the fantasy in something tactile and substantial. Slim-lapel tailoring trimmed with feathers and matched with equally feathery waistcoats transformed plumage into heraldry. The sweet faces of deer peeked out in pixelated jacquards on plush knitwear, while leather biker jackets and evening blousons bore owl faces worked directly into the material. These were not subtle hints. The animal imagery was direct, confronting viewers with the literal face of nature.
Paisley Inheritance
Paisley appeared throughout the lineup, acting as the genetic marker of the brand. It covered silky shirts and fancy dinner jackets, linking these new hybrid creatures to the house’s lineage. De Vincenzo treated it as a foundational element that supported his creative ideas rather than a repetitive signature. The pattern felt inevitable, spreading across trousers, scarves, and robe-coats with the confidence of a family crest.
He paired these intricate textiles with velvet robes and slouchy pajamas, suggesting a lifestyle that values comfort as much as display. The Animen appeared relaxed in their finery, resembling aristocrats who had embraced their true nature. Sweaters tied at the waist, soft roomy bags, and caps pulled down over heads sealed this casual attitude. It was the idea of clothing as livery, a plumage that, unlike the rest of the animal world, is the result of personal, infinitely modifiable choices.
Sonic Architecture
The presentation unfolded to the hypnotic hum of Wendy Carlos, the pioneer of the Moog synthesizer famous for her reinterpretations of Bach and her soundtracks for films like A Clockwork Orange. Her presence was significant. De Vincenzo sees a parallel between her work and his own time at the house. Carlos took classical compositions and rewired them for a new era, receiving both praise and criticism for her audacity. The designer views his role similarly: taking the established codes of a historic Italian label and reshaping them to his own taste.
Vincenzo’s Designer’s Evolution
Even after more than three years of directing the brand, De Vincenzo is still navigating the vast archives and defining his territory. He has described his approach as “maximalist minimalism,” a phrase that captures the collection’s essential tension. The clothes are dense with detail and reference, yet they maintain a certain restraint in silhouette and proportion. This is not maximalism for its own sake but maximalism in service of a coherent vision.
When asked to identify his spirit animal, De Vincenzo revealed that he is a horse according to the Chinese zodiac. Those born under that sign are typically energetic, independent, and adventurous. Looking at the collection, one can see those traits manifested in the clothes. This season’s ETRO man is certainly not one to follow the herd, even if he chooses to wear a mask.
The collection succeeds in its ambition to position ETRO menswear as something more than heritage-driven Italian luxury. De Vincenzo has found a way to honor the house’s iconography while pushing it into genuinely strange territory. The static presentation format allowed the audience to stare into the hollow eyes of these hybrid creatures, creating an intimacy that a traditional runway would have denied. The clothes themselves are wearable, commercial even, but they carry a conceptual weight that elevates them beyond mere product.
The risk, of course, is that the animal imagery becomes gimmick rather than grammar. But De Vincenzo has been careful to integrate it into the fabric of the collection, both literally and figuratively. The Animen are not costumes but characters, and the clothes they wear are not disguises but expressions of their essential nature. In a fashion landscape increasingly dominated by safe bets and commercial calculations, ETRO’s willingness to embrace the weird is both refreshing and commercially astute. The man who buys this collection is not looking for anonymity. He is looking for a mask that reveals rather than conceals.
Discover more of the ETRO Menswear Fall Winter 2026 collection in our gallery:
ETRO Menswear Fall Winter 2026 was presented during Milan Fashion Week.
