Brand: Bottega Veneta
Season: Fall/Winter 2022
Model: Kalimero bag
Buy: Online at Bottega Veneta's website
Price: $7,500
A new Bottega Veneta bag is poised to dethrone the Pouch, the soft-sided clutch that helped former creative director Daniel Lee propel the Italian brand to renewed relevance circa 2020.
Meet the Kalimero, a shoulder bag set to break the Pouch's winning streak.
Unveiled at Bottega's Fall/Winter 2022 runway show, the bag is one of Matthieu Blazy's first accessories for the house, where he climbed from design director to creative director after Lee unexpectedly departed in November 2021.
Seeded to celebrities-slash-style-heavyweights Chloë Sevigny, Julianne Moore, and Dua Lipa, the Kalimero is ushering us from Lee's #NewBottega to Blazy's #NewNewBottega, already a success judging from reaction to his FW22 debut.
Establishing Blazy's vision for the house, the Kalimero is a huge departure from the Pouch — with a four-sided structure and sliding strap, it can be slung across the shoulder as a sort of mono-strapped backpack or worn as a traditional shoulder bag. The strap can even be un-looped, transforming it into a dangling pouch.
The Kalimero also introduces a new version of of Bottega's famous Intrecciato weaving technique. Instead of precisely square and tight-woven, Blazy's technique employs thicker strand of leather that are braided in a more free-form fashion.
Another point of differentiation: the price. At $7,500, the bag is significantly more expensive than Bottega's other popular silhouettes, such as the Jodie ($3,200) and the Padded Cassette ($3,900). (For reference, the Pouch retails for around $3,400.)
Buckle up: Blazy's brave new Bottega is here.
