Oh to be a rich, chic older woman dripping in Bottega
If Mathieu Blazy’s Bottega Veneta is anything to go by, then the cult of youth is beginning to lose its shine. Fashion is sick of young people! Done with hypebeasts! No more sneakers!! The designer’s latest campaign asks the question: what if your grumpy inner child was actually a sophisticated, older woman? The kind who needs nurturing not with McDonalds collaborations and girlboss Insta quotes but with artisanal clothing and books in translation. Inside of you there is an Isabelle Huppert, Kristen McMenamy, or the sort of mega-rich woman who wears full look Bottega Veneta waiting to burst out – all intrecciato boots, sculptural trenches, and white vests. You are now someone who appreciates the “quiet power” of clothing, someone who looks to a brand that levels “style over fashion,” as the designer says.
This debut campaign – shot by a slew of photographers including Sander Muylaert, Solène Gun, and Malick Bodi – comprises 41 film images that travel from the wings of the Bottega Veneta’s AW22 show at San Fedele in Milan, to the Horst Festival in Belgium, to the southern coast of Italy. “Bottega Veneta was created by a collective of artisans. This is the history and this is how we approached the campaign: together, with many different ways of seeing,” Blazy explains. Though it has been shot on a cross-generational cast – many of them new faces – the campaign represents a shift in womenswear from clickbait fashion to the kind of wardrobe that feels self-assured and confident without all the Instagram braggadocio: making Phoebe Philo’s soon-to-be-at-some-point-maybe comeback all the more timely.
Front and centre of the campaign is the designer’s arched-back wool jackets, those leather skirts with tendrilous fringes blooming underneath, glittering, diaphanous party dresses, and plump, woven accessories. The menswear is equally as elegant – shrunken patchwork knitwear, buttery leather tailoring, and abbreviated bootcut denim – looks that will make you feel distinguished. Fans can get a free copy of the accompanying book in Bottega Veneta outposts across the world, but be careful – there might be one of those “NO MORE THAN TWO CHILDREN IN THE SHOP AT ANY TIME” signs sellotaped to the doors.
Click through the gallery above to see the rest of the images from Blazy’s Foundation Collection campaign.