MFW: The Anti-traveller With Bottega Veneta

‘To hell with codes’, says Bottega Veneta’s (still-newish) creative director Matthieu Blazy. After completing his ‘Italian trilogy’ back in February, the Belgian designer is now ready to make the house his own. But for someone with such a distinct eye, the next move in Blazy’s bag of tricks is to get rid of the bag altogether. For Spring/Summer 2024, the Italian leather house is beginning its new chapter, one that doesn’t colour inside the lines that its followers have so ardently drawn.

But instead of just picking another spot on the map, Blazy takes us on a global tour, encapsulating the best of every kind of escape in one collection—but the intention was not to hop, skip and jump around the world but to merge worlds. Taking inspiration from South America, Southeast Asia, Russia, Brittany and Sicily, the designer endeavoured to blend these together to tap into some kind of new cultural aesthetic. The result was a breezy collection of holiday-ready looks that all had an air of mystique around them—a destination you can’t quite put your finger on, one that’s entirely new. Where a stop can determine how we dress, Blazy puts forward a progressive way of holiday dressing that embraces the enigmatic—and we don’t mean by way of being inconspicuous. After all, a highlight were two raffia dresses covered in oversized pom poms.

With leather goods at its core, there was plenty to write home about on the accessories front, from the folded leather newspapers forming Foulard bags to the XXL Sardine bags, where handles could tower over the fishes themselves. More intrecciato footwear is sure to end up on everyone’s wishlist, too.

The next-level craftsmanship that went into individual pieces was a core takeaway of the show.  From the cowl neck top and skirt made from strips of different coloured leather patched together to the seamless merging of textures, patterns and cuts, it was wonder and escapism built on the foundations of craft. As he forges on at the helm of Bottega Veneta, filling in large shoes and working with an epic heritage, it’s refreshing to see Blazy taking risks and continuing to be adventurous in his own right in the face of an ever-changing fashion landscape and New Bottega diehards.

This article originally appeared on Grazia International