Let your inner child loose.
Inside Bottega Veneta’s Spring/Summer 2025 venue, the space was bathed in warm light. We were inside a child’s playroom at the golden hour, a time when everything seems a little more magical, a little more ready to come to life. The seating arrangement was a clue as to what was in store for the show, featuring friendly animal companions cast as leather chairs in the shape of puppies, bunnies, pandas, ladybugs, and more (these adorable Zanotta Sacco-inspired designs will be available in small batches for the next six months, starting now).
From that childlike wonder, that awe at what it means to finally be an adult, that imagination that’s freed during hours of playing dress up in mom and dad’s closet, sprung a truly whimsical and joyful collection. It contained Bottega Veneta’s usual cast of characters—seriously chic men and women on-the-go—but, this time, Blazy colored outside the lines.
I wish I could indulge in a play-by-play of every single look because they are each worthy of a dissertation. I love that within this child’s playground, Blazy developed new fashion ideas. Here are a few: there are skirt and trouser hybrids where a skirt encircles a single-legged pair of pants. Fascinatingly constructed. There was a magnificent ivory leather trench with a draped/layered collar reminiscent of the curved edges of a lily pad, a motif repeated later in the show on a black silk dress. There were match stick knits that were later transformed into three-dimensional decorations on a dress. It moved spectacularly. Electrifyingly.
There were handkerchief tops worn with matching skirts that had been upholstered with a shelf of pleats. There were lived-in, rumpled pieces that spoke to hectic days running from meeting to meeting and getting caught in the rain. Then there was a sense that as adults, we seek creature comforts, small things that brighten our day, a new purchase, a packed lunch, a bouquet of flowers for the coffee table, and a violin case for practicing a hobby at home. These were rendered in leather and crochet, amplifying the craftsmanship of the house.
“What would the kid in you want?” Matthieu Blazy pondered in the show notes. “I wanted to feel the primal pull of fashion once more, a coming-of-age fascination that encompasses the joy of looking, discovering, and dressing: the power of wow!” It’s hard to define with words how much this show touched me. I remember how frustrated I would get when I was a six-year-old girl—just as curious, ambitious, and full of huge hopes and dreams as I am now—that I wasn’t able to drive a car, have my own apartment, cook my own meals, and go to an office to work a job. I wanted to be an adult so badly. I yearned to experience the freedom to make my own choices and to live life unencumbered by rules. Childhood is all about rules and testing/understanding the boundaries of your reality. I was naive to think that adulthood would be any different. The rude truth is, the rules aren’t the same, but they still exist. But with this show, Blazy asserts that childlike wonder has its place in the mundane, that it can disrupt monotony, and bring magic to the ordinary. It was such a needed reminder. Indulge your inner child. Leap from a lily pad, hop like a bunny, roar from joy.
With this show, Blazy asserts that CHILDLIKE WONDER has its place in the mundane, that it can disrupt monotony, bring magic to the ORDINARY.
