Matthieu Blazy took Bottega Veneta on a spin through some enchanted land of grown-ups still entranced by what charms children, such as renders of bunny ears. Or, kids trying to be adults. Either way, it was inspiringly delightful
From the the first look, it was clear Matthieu Blazy was onto something. For any other show, the oversized blazer and the shirt underneath would not have moved mountains. Nor did Bottega Veneta's, to be honest. But the new half-skirt, half-pants did transmute the ensembles into something more formidable. As an idea it could be gimmicky, but in execution, the bottom was an astute coupling of tailoring styles. Where the did pants begin or the skirt end? And Mr Blazy did not stop at just one silhouette. The half-halves came in more relaxed shapes, including one that was rather fluid, less tailored, flowy even. Seeming disparities set up to form perfectly synergistic wholes were truly the spirit of the collection.
This could not be better represented than the soundtrack that accompanied the show. A pastiche of pop songs, show tunes and dance numbers., the music gamely played up the whimsy of the clothes, even the playfulness, as if a kid was imagining what dressing as an adult would be like. And then walked into his parents wardrobe and tried their clothes. Which may explain the oversized jackets, even the crumpled T-shirts (even teens do not iron) or the matchstick prints (alluding to the truth that once burnt never shy?!). The line between refined and ridiculous or between the need for serious, wearable clothes and the requirements among consumers for newness or fun is not easy to demarcate. Mr Blazy struck the tricky balance. As one of the tracks, Put on your Sunday Clothes (originally sung by Michael Crawford and Barbara Streisand and the cast of the musical Hello Dolly) put it, "there is a lot of world out there".
It should be said that Mr Blazy would not have been able to show this collection without Demna Gvasalia having paved the way at Balenciaga earlier. Those pronounced shoulders of the jackets, for the menswear especially, or the oversized blouson had benefitted from the assimilation of the exaggerated silhouette into fashion across the price spectrum. Even the women's too-large, waisted shirt-jacket was not an anomaly because workwear is now so much a part of streetwear infiltrating luxury fashion. The magnified was applied to the details too, such as the tassels on each corner of the slit skirt, front and back—charms for hems. Or, the peplums formed by distended cartridge pleats of those beautifully printed dresses. On that note, Mr Blazy did not shy away from the romantically feminine. His flamenco skirts, for example, with their generous ruffles had adequate flow and flare to be traditional, but also with the assymetry to prevent them from dancing into costume territory.
The accessories, too, were noteworthy. There were many, but what truly caught our eyes were those heels with tongue (?) on each side that flapped delightfully like rabbit ears! Again acknowledging Mr Gvasalia's influence, there were bags not usually associated with Bottega Veneta. Mr Blazy introduced the supermarket shopping bag (now less commonly used here due to applicable charges), but in leather, as well as those that are more compact and shaped like candy bags. The irreverent is no less relevant than BV's serious Intrecciato. Also youthful—bordering on the cute—were the animal-shaped bean bags that the guests sat on. Named The Ark and inspired by the Italian furniture brand Zanotta's 1968 Sacco "anatomically easy chairs" (originally designed by Piero Gatti, Cesare Paolini and Franco Teodoro), Mr Blazy's versions were made entirely in leather and sported shapes of animals, at least 15 of them, such as a chicken, a dog, an elephant, even a whale. As these beanbags would be available to buy later, we expect the panda to be a big hit in these parts of the world, especially in China, whose shoppers every luxury brand is now re-wooing.
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