Matthieu Blazy’s “Power of wow!” at Bottega Veneta

There were cats, dogs, ladybirds, snakes, elephants, bears, bunnies, horses, whales, rabbits, foxes, and a lot of birds — a veritable ark — at Bottega Veneta, the last major show on the Milan Fashion Week schedule.

Scattered around a warehouse, the seats were shaped like animals — like a toddler’s room gone crazy. Jacob Elordi’s chair was one of several bunnies. Michelle Yeoh sat down on a polka-dotted ladybug.

The chairs were the result of a collaboration with legendary Italian design firm Zanotta, and they were based on one of its greatest hits, the Sacco lounge chair. Designed in 1968 by Piero Gatti, Cesare Paolini and Franco Teodoro, the original ‘bean bag’ was reinterpreted by Bottega’s creative director, Blazy.

The designer merged the fluid form of the original Sacco with animal shapes “to evoke creativity, wonder and boundless imagination.”

Just like Bottega’s previous high-profile design project, with Gaetano Pesce, who designed 400 resin chairs for the Spring-Summer 2023 show (the iconic designer’s last project before passing away), the limited edition leather pieces are available to buy, with prices ranging from 6 000 to 8 000 euro. Several models have already sold out.

It’s a smart move: you no longer just buy a dress or a bag, but a piece of history. Furniture tends to last longer than fashion — people are still buying 1920s Le Corbusier and Charlotte Perriand pieces.

The set evoked another iconic fusion of children’s toys and design — Enzo Mari’s “16 animali” wooden puzzle for Danese, from 1957.

In his show notes, Blazy said the show was about the wonder of childhood. “What,” asked Blazy, “would the kid in you want? Can we find power in sweetness? I wanted to feel the primal pull of fashion once more, a coming-of-age fascination that encompasses the joy of looking, discovering and dressing: the power of wow!”

Animals play a big part in the collection as well. They were everywhere, mostly as details. Bunnies, in particularly, were abundant, just as in nature. And frogs featured on brooches, heels and rings.

As for the clothes, they often seemed mismatched — there was a pleated dress with one elephant-like trouser leg, or a very oversized suit jacket, as if a kid had been playing dress-up with the contents of its parents’ wardrobe. A fur-like headpiece and stole resembled an anemone, maybe, or one of the creatures in Maurice Sendak’s children’s book Where The Wild Things Are.

“As a kid,” said Blazy, “there is the adventure of the everyday – there’s a feeling that anything could happen, no matter how fantastical and we are not so bound by regular expectations and conventions. The door is open to the possibility of strange realities and wonder, impossible scenarios that banish disillusion. This is about the power of sincerity over strategy.”

Bottega’s chic take of playfulness, both awkward and confident, joyful and carefree, shares a spirit with the work of J.W. Anderson. Together, these designers have the power to lead luxury fashion out of its current, all too beige creative rut.

Courtesy: Bottega Veneta

Text: Jesse Brouns