Credit: Bottega Veneta
Leather, leather and leather. Blazy's journey at Bottega Veneta was a wonderful one that gave this material its due recognition by exploring its infinite potential with curiosity and creativity in a contemporary way.
An approach declared with the first look of his first collection, Fall Winter 2022-2023, which opened with the now very famous tank top and jeans look which, it was discovered later, was actually a total leather look. And that the designer confirmed show after show, treating leather sometimes like a yarn, other times like a canvas, in a continuous trompe l'oeil that left (and left) the viewer wanting to know more.
In Spring 2023, in fact, it was the turn of the flannel shirt worn by Kate Moss, which required 12 coats of paint to achieve the shade of blue plaid that Blazy had in mind. The following summer, SS 2024, it was the turn of the banana leaf bag: digitally printed leather and then used to form a tube filled with cotton wool, which with a twisted effect manages to give the impression that it is a bag of woven leaves.
For Fall Winter 2023-2024, leather looks like wool: the sock-boots are made using a crocheted leather yarn, a technique that we find in Spring 2025 with the very famous leather flowers wrapped in newspaper that is not newspaper. And speaking of newspaper, how can we not mention Resort 2025 with the daily printed leather weave.
But Blazy is not just trompe l’oeil, it is also cultural references that he always translates using leather to build the universe of Bottega Veneta: as a design enthusiast he collaborates with Zanotta for a collection of 15 limited editions of the classic Sacco armchair, reimagined in the shape of an animal; while with Flos he designs a special edition of the Modello 600 lamp by Gino Sarfatti with the base reworked with the chevron weave.
In short, a journey of discovery and wonder, made possible by the Franco-Belgian designer's approach to the supply chain, to which he relied to make his sophisticated and fun ideas come true. Now we are curious to find out what he will be able to do with Chanel.
