Saturday's Bottega Veneta show marked the Italian luxury fashion house's 50th anniversary and creative director Tomas Maier's 15th year with the brand. Maier rose to the sense of occasion by sending out a collection of beautifully crafted clothes that exuded refined simplicity. In a statment released by the brand, the German designer explained, "I wanted to celebrate by staying true to the brand, to the ideas of private luxury that are all about the experience of whoever owns our clothes, bags, shoes, jewellery, everything.” Post show Maier elaborated,“For me, it is always about simple and easy things that are special for those people who appreciate them. The hard work in their creation is invisible to the eye, the result a pleasure to wear.”
To bring his vision of private luxury to life Maier enlisted a fairly neutral palette of dusky pink, dusty blue, cream, caramel, black and grey which he chose to punctuate here and there with pops of orange, lemony yellow and bright fuschia. The key selling point of this collection is the sophisticated wearabilty it offers to the working woman. Maier opted for flattering cuts that complemented the female form - shirt dresses in coloured leather were cinched at the waist to accentuate waistlines, tailored trousers were cropped short to allow for dainty heeled sandals with an ankle strap to show and masculine tuxedo-style jackets were tapered in around the waist with shiny metallic leather belts. Fabrics were particularly opulent - ostrich and crocodile leather featured, as did materials specially developed for the show such as leather bonded with superfine cotton and linen fused with metals, to ensure garments will keep their shape.
The collection is not only work-appropriate, it's ageless too, which was a message made clear with the women sent down the runway. It-Girls Gigi and Bella Hadid walked the runway, as did a number of models in their 30's and 40's - Karen Elson, Malgosia Bela and Eva Herzigova to name but a few. And the star of the show? Modelling legend Lauren Hutton, who at the age of 72 looked just as good in her Bottega trench as any of the other models as she took the runway arm in arm with Gigi Hadid.
Subtle, classy and effortless, this is a collection for a woman who doesn't buy in to seasonal trends and appreciates craftsmanship and quality. Our tip: buy now and wear forever. We've included an edit of our favourite looks below.
