ERL SS26: Preppy decadence as an allegory of desire

For the Spring/Summer 2026 season, Eli Russell Linnetz constructs a narrative as precise as it is enigmatic with Poison Ivy, a collection that unfolds its codes within a fictional boarding school, where power dynamics, social anxiety, and the obsession with ascending the adolescent hierarchy are transformed into a visual allegory.

Far from a mere aesthetic proposition, Poison Ivy articulates a contemporary fable about rites of passage, using the male silhouette as a field of tension between the ideal of perfection and its inevitable dissolution. Linnetz approaches classic American menswear—the quintessential preppy wardrobe—with a vision laden with irony and an almost cinematic sensibility.

The linen suit, the V-neck sweater, and the pleated trousers remain unchanged: they are deconstructed, reinterpreted with rough textures, deliberately eroded finishes, and a color palette that adds emotional layers. The shapes relax and blur, as if the aristocratic gesture were affected by existential fatigue.

Among the most notable compositions is an ensemble featuring a blue and white tartan, a purple shirt, a lilac vest, and a pastel tie. A dissonant symphony that functions as a visual manifesto: the collapse of the normative transformed into style.

However, Linnetz does not forget his Californian roots. The collection finds its balance in designs that dialogue with the coastal landscape: light garments, sun-drenched attitudes, and breathable fabrics. As if the characters’ inner tension finds, at the end of the story, an outlet in the Pacific breeze.