Farms and high fashion don’t usually mix well, but Bottega Veneta changed that in Milan when it held a catwalk show amongst a menagerie of chickens, foxes, horses, rabbits, and birds.
To present his spring/summer 2025 collection, the Milan-based brand’s creative director, Mathieu Blazy, had guests sit on leather bean bags, each decorated with a different creature, which he said was inspired by the stuffed animal scene in Steven Spielberg’s film “ET.” After all, Bottega Veneta’s latest collection revolved around the pure imagination of childhood and the possibilities that lie ahead.
“I was interested in that sense of wonder that you feel as a child, that first experience with fashion when you try on your parents’ clothes and play dress-up,” Blazy said after Saturday night’s show. “We need beauty and joy, and to keep playing… it’s like freedom.”
Bottega Veneta has been setting the standard for incredibly chic urban elegance for both women and men since Blazy joined the brand in 2022. Now, his experimental thrust has resulted in a fashion gear shift of sorts.
Oversized pantsuits were missing a leg, dresses were misshapen and strangled with frog brooches, leather trench coats had collars that drooped like bunny ears, and smart-casual separates were all purposefully and excessively creased.
“It’s like that first day of school, you come in perfectly dressed, but come home at the end of the day looking like a mess,” Blasey said.
Even the brand’s ultra-expensive leather accessories were filtered through a whimsical lens: paper lunch bags, supermarket shopping bags, retro kids’ backpacks, all made from the softest nappa leather and designed with a decidedly tongue-in-cheek touch. “The collection evokes a new kind of power dressing: the power of sincerity, playfulness and chic awkwardness,” the show notes read.
Bottega Veneta has no shortage of celebrity fans. Actresses Michelle Yeoh, Julianne Moore, Jacob Elordi and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, rapper A$AP Rocky and boxer Imane Kheriff were in attendance on Saturday night, and photos of them sitting on beanbag cushions went viral on TikTok shortly thereafter. After the show, Moss-Bachrach, who attended with his wife, director Elena Yemchuk, told The Guardian: “It was so festive, so beautiful, so creative. I loved the crinkly crinkles!”
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While many of the other designers showing at Milan Fashion Week this week had disappointing collections and opted to play it safe amid a volatile luxury industry, Bottega Veneta is one of the few brands bucking the trend and growing, according to figures released by the brand’s parent company Kering in July. The experimental approach to the collection was a bold move from Brasey, who told media: “This is more about the power of honesty than strategy.”
