MFW: Monumental Moment at Bottega Veneta

The setting for Bottega Veneta’s Fall/Winter 2024 show evoked a timely sentiment in Milan this week. A burnt, barren landscape that looked ready for abandonment but actually suggested a sense of regeneration.

With a world on fire, there is a stoicism to the mundane, where daily dressing can become an act of resilience. This is what formed the basis of Matthieu Blazy‘s latest collection. In exploring everyday silhouettes and their possibilities, the creative director hoists them up to unleash their full power—in turn, reflecting our own potential.

Luxury fashion doesn’t always hit the mark when considering the humdrum of everyday life in their design approach—and that’s not really what people expect, anyway. But Blazy’s lament of a world gone awry found solace in experimenting with clothes that we laymen could actually fit into our lives—and this was just the starting point. From there, he embellishes. Not in superfluous adornments or impractical bits that usually catch our magpie eyes, but in pushing the limits of clothes, reaping the most out of their form without interfering with their function.

Emblems of resilience and rebirth were present throughout. Desert flowers that bloom in impossible conditions were motifs found in cascading handkerchief hemmed skirts, unfussy shirting and bouncing ‘flower dresses’ comprised of laser cut micro plissé. Painted flames showed up as painted patterns on leather or abstractly mimicked through the movement of fil coupe looks. Then, transformative snakes abound throughout the entire collection, from the encircling bags and the new interpretation of the snake belt to spiralling enamel earrings.

The final product was a collection that looked anything but ordinary but was still steeped in thoughtful pragmatism. A departure from the escapism that was put forward in Spring/Summer 2024 last year, Blazy’s current mindset rings of evolution.

While we’ve seen many designers comment on the state of the world through their designs, Blazy’s take is one of humble optimism. Yes, the world is in tatters (to put it mildly), but the ability of everyday people to carry on in the face of it all? I can’t think of better inspiration.

The story originally appeared at GRAZIA International.