ETRO AUTUMN/WINTER 2015-16 READY-TO-WEAR MILAN FASHION WEEK

It was a homecoming for the Etro girls this season. “After Spring’s gypsy detour, I thought it was time to settle down and enjoy the pleasures of interiors,” said Veronica Etro backstage before today’s show. Which she did promptly and quite literally, taking inspiration not only from carpets, wallpapers, and tapestries, but also from the inlay techniques of luxurious boiserie. Etro’s idea of interiors, just to be clear, is not minimalist. Rather, it verges on the grand and the bourgeois: You could picture her set of boho characters sitting on velvet sofas reading by a wrought-out mantelpiece, precious wooden furniture inherited from their ancestors all around them, warm colors and, of course, paisley throws everywhere. “Controlled maximalism” was how the designer summed up the effort. “I mixed a lot of different materials in each piece,” she said. “Even the prints have a textural 3-D quality.”

On the surface, there was a lot going on—tons of patchwork and intarsia, mixes of grainy mannish tweeds and brocades. At times, it was a bit difficult to digest, but Etro managed to avoid the haphazard, focusing on a lean ’70s silhouette and a moody color palette. A lighter hand would have made all that craft shine through, however, as it was truly outstanding: Editing is crucial, and by overdoing, she sometimes overshadowed.

In the Italian language, the words “dress” and “to live” have the same root, which is curious, bringing the two worlds close. Etro’s take on the interiors theme, however, was not about intimacy or coziness. It was more about snobbish selfishness, which made it truly charming.