Louise Trotter may come from the land of drizzle and practical coats, but you wouldn’t know it watching her settle into Milan. Nearly a year after stepping into Bottega Veneta’s top job, the British designer already seems fluent in the house’s favorite language, meticulous craft. Backstage, Trotter framed the classic Milan dichotomy as her starting point, brutalism and sensuality. In other words, stark architecture and the impossibly elegant women walking past it.
“This is a season of structures, softened. A study of intimacy as much as protection. The way an austere facade belies beauty on the inside. There is a considered curve brought to daywear archetypes, reinvented as your own. A close connection between the garments and the person who wears them. Precise lines give away to gestures of flamboyance. A conversation across genders – and generations, too. A dash of nostalgic floral. Nonna’s everything purse. A father’s well-worn shoe. At the opera, the theatre, and in the public stage of the piazza, Milanese dress for their community as for themselves. There is a sense of pride in getting dressed with confidence and care… This collection is dedicated to the expression of the collective: the wondrous collaboration between the heart, the mind, and the hand,” the collection’s notes went on to say.
Once everyone had settled inside Palazzo San Fedele, home to the brand’s headquarters, the show got underway off to an easy start. The first looks to walk down the runway were almost sculpted, suits and all. But since they all bear that little Bottega Veneta tag on the back, they came with rounder shoulders, while some shapes ballooned. Wrap skirts were fastened with leather belts, coats came in matte croc, and plaid was composed of strips of woven leather. Collars peeked out in playful ways, some coats were finished with the house’s signature Intrecciato weaving, while on others, a sharply triangular shirt collar casually escaped from the layer underneath, on one side only. Then came the colors and textures. Reds, yellows, blues, micro pleated leather coats, high pile shag dresses, silk threads that recalled curly shearling, and of course, the beloved fiberglass made a comeback, now almost touching the floor. By the time the last piece hit the floor, you almost forgot what side of Milan you were on.
