His debut show, spring 2019, included a partnership with the Pop artist KAWS, and from there Jones constructed collections around the work of Raymond Pettibon, Daniel Arsham, Kenny Scharf, Peter Doig, and other blue-chip artists. The partnership may be somewhat radical in the history of the maison, but it’s just another day at the office for Jones, who has made collaboration a cornerstone of his tenure at Dior. “They’re just abstracted luxurious versions of stuff that I already wear.” (Linnetz’s success as a designer hasn’t slowed down his photography practice he shot Jacob Elordi for the cover of this very issue of GQ.) Even the skater chain,” he says, holding up an enormous gold chain studded with “Christian Dior” charms that’s clamped to his cargos. But this is actually just what I wear every day. “I feel like a lot of people try to tap into skate culture because it’s relevant. Based on ERL designs worn by the likes of Justin Bieber and Kendall Jenner, they are covered in waves of silver sequins and will cost over $5,000 when the collection hits stores in January, says Linnetz. In a first for Dior, two hoodies would grace the runway too. One wears a thick purple turtleneck embroidered with the phrase “California Couture,” another, a crisp gray suit with the lining flipped inside-out. “Dior’s never had a guest designer in their history, so it’s actually insane,” Linnetz says as he shows off a board with the final looks styled on models. Still, Linnetz is aware of the momentousness of the occasion that’s brought him into Dior’s elaborate operation. And ultimately led to his being tapped to guest design the Dior Men spring 2023 collection. With the backing of Dover Street’s young designer incubator, ERL’s nostalgia-soaked reinterpretations of Cali-jock staples like jorts and football jerseys took off quickly. He launched ERL in 2018 at the urging of Comme des Garçons and Dover Street Market president Adrian Joffe, who saw in Linnetz a quintessentially modern talent. A former opera singer and child actor-he voiced Tipo in the millennial touchstone The Emperor’s New Groove-who studied screenwriting in college, Linnetz spent most of his 20s as a buzzy creative director and photographer for the likes of Kanye West and Lady Gaga.
Linnetz, 31, isn’t your typical fashion school alum on the come up. But owing to an act of creative audacity by Dior Men artistic director Kim Jones, who is tapping away on his phone nearby, Linnetz is instead commanding the room. Wearing a vintage slime-green Ocean Pacific shirt, camo cargo pants, and goggle eyeglass frames, Linnetz looks a bit like the kooky intern who should be steaming a rack of shimmering suit jackets nearby. Today, he’s surrounded by a half-dozen French staffers from Christian Dior, who are awaiting further direction. Linnetz runs his brand, ERL, out of a studio a few miles away in his hometown of Venice Beach, where he is currently working with a team of two employees, one of whom is his sister. It’s a sunny afternoon in May, and the fashion designer Eli Russell Linnetz is sitting in a hotel ballroom in Santa Monica.
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