01.03.2023
Imagine a morning stroll down the cobblestoned streets of Milan. Old world romance colours your surroundings. A soft Italian breeze guides you through a sea of passing faces. You pause, just for a moment, taking in the beauty of difference around you. For Matthieu Blazy, this is a parade of transient unity - a shared experience of joy and personal pleasure that sets the scene for Bottega Veneta’s fall-winter 2023 collection. A year into Blazy’s influence, we have arrived at the final chapter of his ‘Italia’ trilogy. Celebrating the country’s past, present and future, chicness is re-defined with a multiplicity of 81 distinct looks bound by no particular trend. Set at the industrial Fabbrica Orobia, the speckled runway featured two bronze statues by the 20th-century Futurism artist, Umberto Boccioni. Starting looks fashioned the morning ritual of getting dressed, embracing an “I just got out of bed” aesthetic with translucent white chemise, pinstripe and bed sock-esque knit leather shoes. The un-edited collection then metamorphosised, shifting from monochromatic tailored silhouettes to expressive eveningwear in red, green, yellow, blues and pinks that call to Boccioni’s futurist art style. In a direct fusion of these present and past histories, a model is seen in a structured midi coat that exudes modern minimalism while carrying a Boccioni painting under his arm. Added faux fur, wool twill and knit brought further textural diversity to the show. The collection, apart from being multifarious in inspiration, was also filled with surprises. Notably, Blazy’s experimental take on heritage shined. Trompe l’oeil manipulations of leather saw the illusions of dress shirts, knits, as well as embossed crocodile and ostrich patterns on the runway. Traditional codes of intreccio and intrecciato also took new forms. While the former was re-imagined as a cascade of scales and feathers on dresses, skirts, tops and accessories, the latter added dynamism to fresh offerings of thigh-high boots and signature Sardine and Kalimero bags. To Blazy, the show exemplifies the power of dress as a way for you to be whoever you want to be. “I loved the idea of the parade in Italy; a procession, a strange carnival, a crowd of people from anywhere and everywhere and yet somehow, they all fit and go in the same direction,” Blazy said. “I wanted to look at what makes people gather together in a place without hierarchy, where everyone is invited.”
