Worn by A$AP Rocky, working with Dior, LVMH Prize winner – Erl is on the up

“It started over direct messages and, before you knew it, the whole design team was in Venice Beach,” says Russell Linnetz. “Seeing Kim work with his team and how he delegates creativity was really inspiring, and this experience showed me the power of commerce and how you can use business to tell bigger stories.”

Russell Linnetz never trained as a designer and came to fashion almost by chance. “I went to school as a screenwriter, to make movies. For me, it was always about telling a story, whether it was a music video or stage design,” he says in an interview in Paris after winning the Karl Lagerfeld Prize, part of the annual LVMH Prize awards.

The awards are given every year by luxury group LVMH – the company behind brands such as Dior and Louis Vuitton – to support small, independent creators.

The filmmaker had worked with musicians such as Kanye West and Lady Gaga, and it was only after a collaboration with Comme des Garçons for a fragrance campaign and a conversation with Joffe that Erl (the letters stand for the designer’s initials) was born.

It’s tempting to view the unisex, laid-back label as yet another brand joining the streetwear bandwagon, but Russell Linnetz doesn’t like to define it that way.

“I don’t think in categories like streetwear. For me, it’s creating stories and characters,” he says. “I don’t think about how people see it.”

Los Angeles – particularly, Venice Beach where Russell Linnetz was born and lives – play a big role in the aesthetics of the brand, which Russell Linnetz calls “intimate, colourful, approachable and fun”.

Think bright colours, easy silhouettes, fun patterns, genderless separates such as hoodies and sweatshirts, cosy knitwear and floral-print shirts.

“Being from LA, where movies are so important, there’s that element of storytelling in my collections,” he says.

“I was born and raised in Venice Beach, which is very laid-back, and people want to be comfortable and are easy-going.”

Russell Linnetz is more than ready to tell bigger stories. Erl is available in about 250 stores around the world and the brand is planning to open a shop in Paris this year.

Winning the Karl Lagerfeld Award, which comes with a €150,000 (US$160,000) cash prize plus mentoring from LVMH executives, is likely to propel the rise of the label. Russell Linnetz admits that, in spite of the support of DSMP and recent accolades, there’s a lot of work to be done (hiring a CFO is next on his to-do list).

“Just because someone’s helping with production it doesn’t mean it’s going to be successful,” he says. “I don’t feel like I’ve made it. I’m never satisfied. I already have fittings tomorrow.”

He adds: “The exciting thing is that, after I finish a collection and take ownership of it, I don’t want to see it any more and I just shift gears. It takes a manic personality to do this.”