Brand: Bottega Veneta
Season: Wardrobe 02 (Pre-Fall 2021)
Key Pieces: A bevy of especially extra footwear and woven Intrecciato accessories are quintessential Bottega. Alongside its signature subversive suiting, Bottega also created some Muppet-like pieces equally playful and plush, with feathery sweaters and slacks occasionally rendered in Big Bird yellow and a deep shearling fleece cut realized in Oscar the Grouch green.
Buy: Bottega Veneta, Browns, SSENSE, MATCHESFASHION.COM
Editor’s Notes: There's more to Bottega than bougie basics and bags. For instance, Daniel Lee's vision for the luxury label favors classy print mags over social media, and season-free — if ill-conceived — in-person Salon collections to Fashion Week observance. The items seen during that invite-only escapade will be revealed in time for Fall 2021, but Bottega Veneta's mid-season Wardrobe is here to bridge the gap. Wardrobe 02 is, as usual, presented through stylized lookbook, starring the likes of Skepta, Arca, Slowthai, Venetia Scott, Roberto Bolle, and Kesewa Aboah.
The label shares some of the tailoring obsessions demonstrated by its fellow Kering-owned companies like Balenciaga and Gucci, demonstrating plenty of dramatic shoulders and nipped waists throughout the co-ed collection. However, Wardrobe 02 is also indicative of Bottega Veneta's distinctive approach to upsetting clean lines with explosive color and fabrication: witness the sheen of the coated canvas coats, velour lounge suits, and metal-studded trucker jackets.
Wardrobe 02 is far from a cacophonous affair, naturally, with plenty of refined tailoring anchoring the more out-there items. Herringbone wool overcoats, salt-and-pepper blazers, trim trousers, and plenty of mature knitwear all reiterate Bottega's suited-and-booted inclinations. Technical parkas and jumpsuits, meanwhile, speak to Bottega's far-reaching cues, occasionally enriching the functional outerwear with thick, glossy leather representative of its laid-back luxe attitude.
