Bottega Veneta is a brand known for its tradition and quality, differentiated by maintaining a more discreet stance, even with so much fame.
The Bottega Veneta brand has been gaining more and more recognition in recent times. Founded in 1966, it is very popular due to its braided leather accessories. Furthermore, it is one of the main luxury brands on the haute couture scene. In this sense, fame does not only extend to the Italian scene, where it came from, but internationally. Bottega Veneta’s three pillars give it its name: tradition, quality and careful craftsmanship.
Be that as it may, nowadays, there are many relevant names in fashion. Among them, they range from century-old luxury houses to the most recent. However, none were able to cause as much excitement and desire for their pieces as Bottega Veneta. Even with a famous heritage of Italian quality, the brand only began to gain prominence in 2001. This happened after Tomas Meier took over the creative direction of the brand and created a worldwide success in his designs for one of the accessories.
In this sense, check out everything you need to know about the Bottega Veneta brand below. Also learn about the history of the brand, the reason for its fame and the pieces that make it an exceptional name in today’s haute couture scene.
History of Bottega Veneta
Bottega Veneta emerged in 1966, in the city of Vicenza, northern Italy. She is the creation of Michele Taddei and Renzo Zengiaro. Despite being founded in Vicenza, its name actually means “Venetian store”, or “small Venetian boutique”.
In the beginning, the brand was something simple, a small manufacture of leather items. However, the manual work had enough impact for Bottega Veneta to gain recognition, making them famous for handling leather in the same way a craftsman would handle gold.
Or braided
Unlike many brands today, Bottega Veneta does not have a famous logo. However, its trademark is even more valuable: “intrecciato”, a method of braiding leather that is as recognizable as Chanel’s jacquard fabric. It arose from the brand’s difficulty in competing with traditional Italian production in the 70s. Normally, everything that had greater recognition came from large factories, and the machines in the Veneto region, where the brand’s atelier was located, did not work for manufacturing. of its delicate leather.
Thus, intrecciato emerged, a braided leather method that could guarantee greater firmness of the material and increase its durability. Thus, it was possible to process the leather on the machines that the brand had available to work with. The technique at hand has raised the level of Bottega Veneta products even further. This added a lot of value and renewed the concept of luxury at the time. The company even opened a school in 2006 that could train professionals in the art of braided leather, essential for the brand’s success.
Brand excellence
Still in the early 80s, Bottega Veneta created the slogan “When your initials are enough”, translated into “When your initials are enough”. This reflected very well the essence of the brand, which was known for its quality, refinement, discretion and excellence. The brand name always appears on the inside of its products, and only its initials, but no logos anywhere else. In this sense, it is possible to see that the company goes against the idea of luxury, which is the ostentation and logomania seen in many other brands.
The North American Vogue magazine even named Bottega’s style as “stealth wealth”, that is, discreet wealth. It is a great definition for the values that the brand cultivates to this day, which are related to its quality, but not to the obviousness of its name.
Bottega in the 80s and 90s
At the end of the 70s, Renzo Zengiaro left the company, and Taddei then handed over creative direction to his partner’s ex-wife, stylist Laura Moltedo. In this sense, Laura helped make the brand’s name even more popular among high society, as she was a socialite who spent much of her time in New York. She created relationships with names like Andy Warhol, who even directed a short film about Bottega.
Laura’s good connections helped include one of the brand’s most striking pieces, the clutch, in Lauren Hutton’s costume in the film “American Gigolô” (1980). The production was a hit at the time, with names like Richard Gere, who wore creations by the then young designer Giorgio Armani. However, in the following decade, the brand was unable to keep up with modern times, losing space and almost going bankrupt.
2000’s
In 2001, the brand was sold to the Gucci group, which is now the luxury conglomerate Kering. It shares space with other renowned names such as Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Saint Laurent and Gucci itself. Later that year, a new creative director was hired for the brand, German Tomas Maier, coming from Hermès. He was responsible for one of Bottega’s biggest hits, the “knot” clutch, which is small and structured with a knot-shaped clasp – the name itself comes from the design.
The “knot” clutch was a favorite among many celebrities and an absolute success at the end of the first decade of the millennium. The design inspired several other creations that are now popular among multinationals around the world, and there is a high chance that you have already seen a similar bag or even owned one. Certain celebrities like Kim Kardashian helped to further popularize the accessory.
Tomas Maier’s collection
40 years after the creation of Bottega Veneta, in 2005, Tomas Maier launched the brand’s first collection of women’s ready-to-wear clothing, followed by men’s in 2006. The director’s decision arose from a need he had to sell the brand’s belts. brand, soon the first pants were created, one that complemented the accessories. The complete look was a perfect translation of the Bottega woman: elegant, feminine, discreet, with a great neutral color palette and great quality. Despite the success, the brand was still a supporting player.
Although the brand’s relevance is not yet as great as many others, there was great admiration for its tradition and quality. However, in 2018, the company made its final move, something that took Bottega from a traditional and old-fashioned luxury brand to the most desired in the world. This happened when Daniel Lee was named its creative director.
Bottega Veneta e Daniel Lee
Daniel Lee was still a little-known designer, but his resume was perfect, and his timing even more incredible. He came from the Celine brand, where he held the position of director of ready-to-wear collections during the Phoebe Philo era. Daniel had even participated in celebrated brands such as Margiela and Balenciaga.
Upon arriving at Bottega, already very prepared and full of energy, he injected the missing ingredient into the brand: modernity. Combined with the brand’s impeccable quality, it soon won over many fans, and its version earned the nickname “New Bottega”, that is, “new Bottega”. His point of view sought to create a dialogue between the contemporary and the traditional, as well as sex appeal and personality.
One of the historical characteristics of Bottega Veneta has always been the fact that the brand was a type of “quiet luxury”, promoting quality and durability. In the era of Tomas Maier, they still sought to stay away from trends, promoting an elegant feminine image, but without much emotion. However, Daniel Lee broke these ideals: his designs still respected and celebrated the brand’s codes, but were not just based on history. From that time on, they sought to lead, not just participate in the conversation.
In this way, Daniel Lee’s boldness was well regarded by many, and quickly bore fruit. Still in his first year in office, the director broke records for victories at the Fashion Awards, winning the 4 categories in which he received nominations: Brand of the Year, Designer of the Year, Women’s Designer of the Year and Accessories Designer of the Year.
New Bottega
Because leather and the artisanal process are synonymous with the brand, Daniel Lee sought to build his vision based on such details. Leather, however, left the accessories to also integrate the clothes, and the craftsmanship continued to be expressed through impeccably finished knitwear. The good complements were expanded with sculptural jewelry and hardware, bag and footwear adornments. They added weight to the designs and even gave them new, more modern shapes.
The intrecciato method, for example, which once meant everything to Bottega, was incorporated by Daniel in the most different ways. The braid became oversized, appeared in clothes, was maximized, padded, and even became a sports item, decorating shoes and conquering the world in new fabrics. The phenomenon, however, is the result of Daniel Lee, as many of his creations have become bestsellers and international trends.
Bottega Veneta em 2021
In 2021, Bottega Veneta caused a huge uproar by deleting its accounts on networks such as Instagram, Twitter and deleting all content from Facebook. This happened at the beginning of the year, and the attitude surprised the world, which is increasingly based on digital recognition. Even though this goes against the behavior of many brands, it makes perfect sense for the brand, which carries values such as discretion, exclusivity and intimacy. Thus, the choice may have to do with the desire to recover the mystery and avoid overexposure.
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