Bottega Veneta Unveils First Collection Under Daniel Lee

Diana Bell-Heather   |   20-12-2018

We’ve been eagerly awaiting Daniel Lee’s debut at Bottega Veneta, and have a feeling that this collection might fill the Phoebe Philo shaped hole.

 

Bottega Veneta pre fall 2019

 

Lee’s has a long and rich history to work with. Bottega Veneta is known for fine Italian craftsmanship that offers contemporary luxury. Blending that heritage with what men and women want to wear should not be a problem for him having worked at Celine under Philo as well as Maison Margiela and Balenciaga.

 

Bottega Veneta pre fall 2019

 

There is some of the old Celine aesthetic in the Pre-Fall 19 line such as boxy silhouettes and a muted colour palette, but he it is very much in lined with the codes of the house, especially when you look at the treatment of leather and use of texture.

There is no rigidity, the softness of Bottega Veneta’s cabat bags applied to an entire collection. A sensuality is expressed throughout, coats tailored to a slender line, scarf-dresses draped against the figure. The notion of skin is a constant, either revealed through transparency or windows opened onto the body itself, or in a reiterated use of leather.

 

Bottega Veneta pre fall 2019

 

There is a synergy between men’s and women’s clothing. Menswear toys with the concept of sprezzatura, an unstudied, natural ease that also informs the womenswear. Both play with looser, louche proportions, with mixing the relaxed with the formal, evoking the reality of dressing today.

Materials are pure luxury: cashmere and silk, wools, cottons, shearlings and every permutation of leather. Colours are natural – cordovan, espresso, amber and oxblood, punctuated with heightened shades and contrasted with chalk and Milanese black.

 

Bottega Veneta pre fall 2019

 

Celebrating and exploring the intrecciato, methods of knotting, weaving, braiding are applied to a range of new handbags – box clutches and high-handled totes. They also feature in footwear, streamlined variations of classic men’s footwear, and for women sandals and pumps with a squared toe.

From what we’ve seen so far, we are very much excited for Lee’s runway debut in February.

 

Bottega Veneta pre fall 2019