Bottega Veneta Bags
- Posted by: angeli.krohmal
How did a brand that didn't even have a logo and a tag become one of the most coveted fashion additions to the closet for all fashionistas? What is the secret of the popularity of the Intrecciato fashion design, which was originally used for technical purposes? We tell the nuances of the history of the Bottega Veneta brand.
The brand with the circuitous name Bottega Veneta was founded in Italy, in the province of Vicenza in 1966. The founders Renzo Zengiaro and Michele Taddei did not plan to reach fashionable heights in the world of fine clothing, but were engaged in the manufacture of leather goods. Michele Taddei was married to Laura Braggion, who was also behind the founding of this truly aristocratic brand. After their divorce, she remained in charge of the company, also bringing in her second husband.
In search of a workable solution to strengthen its leather goods, the brand developed the Intrecciato - a refined method of weaving leather strips of different widths, a kind of weaving twist. Instead of the usual solid leather canvas, the result was a fabric with increased durability, which in addition did not require additional decoration, the diamond-shaped texture became the main accent. This was ideal for the production of fine leather goods - for processing course material the founders at first simply did not have the equipment. The first Cabat bag, which has become a cult favorite, was created in this design and is still a dream for many today.
The success of the brand came very quickly, literally in the 70's the products were wanted by stars and politicians even in the USA. The company, sensing the potential of the market, moved its management to America. At the same time the brand tried its hand at creating shoes.
Having realized the success of such an undertaking, the brand began to develop actively and by the 80s became the creator of handbags of extreme class, which was highly appreciated by the elite. At that time one of the founders, Michele, had already left the business and Laura with husband Vittorio. But the brand continued to develop, becoming popular with representatives of the creative class: Andy Warhol made a short film about Bottega, models of bags began to appear in popular movies of the time. Unfortunately, however, success comes and goes in waves, and the buzz around the brand subsided by the end of the decade. With the popularity of the brand, the second founder left as well.
However, Laura and her husband did not give up. Initially, they made their own attempts to restore the popularity already familiar to their products, but failed. Neither the creation of a logo with the initials of the brand, nor the expansion of the assortment did not justify themselves. Nevertheless, in the 90's a ready-to-wear collection was created, which in many ways formalized the brand's DNA. Realizing that Bottega needed a new creative breath, the owners decided to search for a designer.
At the same time, at the beginning of the 21st century Bottega Veneta became part of the Gucci Group, which was able to find the designer who could restore the former glory of the Italian leather house. It was Tomas Maier. Tomas had a natural taste, instilled by his parents as an architect and experience of working in such important fashion houses as Sonia Rykiel and Guy Laroche. This was a real match! Maier respected what had been done at Bottega before him, had a clear sense of the brand's true uniqueness and began to take steps to expand. Thus, the fashionable Italian house launched a collection of jewelry and men's clothing lines. The brand began to emphasize ready-to-wear collections of clothes. At the same time, the new designer turned to the brand's archives, restoring models that were not produced during the crisis. Thus another iconic bag with the largest number of variations was created - the Knot, the embodiment of authentic Italian craftsmanship. To some extent, it was Bottega Veneta that first became associated with the concept of "stealth wealth": in addition to clothes and bags, a whole cult of Bottega was formed: accessories of all types, sunglasses, as well as interior items.
The new CEO Marco Bizzarri also contributed to the re-ascension to the fashion Olympus. The Bottega Veneta brand became not just a fashion house, but also started quite an active social and educational activity in its native Italy. Having decided that the craft of handbag making should be deepened and adopted by subsequent generations, the brand created La Scuola dei Maestri Pellettieri di Bottega Veneta with the support of an Italian university, revealing all the subtleties of creating its products and the skill of working with leather in general. Bottega has also teamed up with social organizations to fight unemployment, particularly among women, also providing expertise.
Maintaining its status as a luxury fashion house with an aristocratic spirit, the main atelier moved into the 18th century manor house in 2013. The craving for history, art and architecture of the past also marked the opening of the boutique in a historic building in Milan. This was a big step on the path of development, followed by others: a store in Los Angeles right on Rodeo Drive, a huge boutique in a historic building at Ginza and the conquest of downtown New York. In addition, the brand also introduced perfumery, today there are about 30 perfumes in the collection, the main one of which fragrance enthusiasts consider the gorgeous Knot named after the iconic bag.
But in 2018, change came again for the brand. After Tomas' long and painstaking work, he was replaced by a young and even more ambitious designer Daniel Lee. Being in his early 30s Daniel already had an impressive portfolio in the form of collaborations with such status and fundamental fashion houses as Maison Margiela, Celine and Balenciaga. Such a decision was quite unusual from the point of view of the development of a brand known for its very refined but very conservative visual trends and strategies. But the brand's management (at that time a new CEO was already working for Bottega Veneta) was not mistaken - it was a grand success.
We owe Daniel Lee a debt of gratitude for the incredible and stunning it-bags. He really revitalized the brand without losing its aristocratic dignity. The designer has brought the square toe back into fashion, especially with open-toed sandals. Now we can easily put the iconic Intrecciato weave on shoes, because now the brand creates sandals in this way. The lines and silhouettes have become much more dynamic. By the way, some form of aesthetic gigantism has also become one of the business cards of the renewed brand - bags with Intrecciato can now be used as luggage according to their volumes. In addition, the designer experimented with the weave itself - now you can see not only rhombuses, but also squares of all colors and sizes. And the Pouch clutch at some point became the most coveted bag in the world, overtaking the best sellers by Chanel, Hermes and others. Daniel spent a lot of time on the color scheme - for example, the rise in popularity of the bright grassy green shade is to his credit. In addition to really elegant and fresh twists, the young designer introduced some eccentric and atypical for the brand accents - so rubber shoes appeared in the collection.
Having worked almost until the end of 2021, Daniel Lee is moving on, and the revitalized brand is already starting a new phase with Matthieu Blazy. As recognized in the brand, the new designer is expected to develop approximately the same as Daniel, but with a new breath. And this, in general, is logical - Matthieu Blazy, like his predecessor, has experience of working in such an extraordinary fashion brand as Maison Margiela.
As you can already understand from Matthieu's two years of work, his new move was to bring basic accents to the brand's elegant aesthetic without forgetting the original DNA. The new designer realized that discarding the idea of craftsmanship when creating for a brand like this was simply not an option. Matthieu put even more emphasis on natural leather, creating quite a few pieces of clothing, in particular loose-fitting twin suits. In his collection one can feel the adherence to simple and realistic ideas: natural colors, denim fabrics (a perfect innovation for the brand),tank tops - all this is created as a reminder that the very "quiet luxury" is the owner of this or that outfit by Bottega Veneta.
The ultra-luxe brand Bottega Veneta has long been exceptionally sought-after. Famous for its unusual weaving - Bottega intrecciato - of material for its products, which was originally just a technological hack, it is now a coveted purchase for all the most modern fashionistas. Let's take a closer look at brand's famous handwriting in women's Bottega Veneta bags (they have a lot of masterpieces in addition to Bottega Veneta pouch ;)!
