Finding the Wow in the Wonders of Playing Dress-up at Bottega Veneta
Review of Bottega Veneta Spring 2025 Fashion Show
By Angela Baidoo
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
Dressing-up box, power of play, everyday WOW
In todays show notes Matthieu Blazy reminisced on his childhood days, where everyday was an adventure, but more on that later. He also said that those days were unbound by expectation, as its only as we get older that the perimeters start to narrow by demanding that, to quote the lyrics of Choose Life by PF Project from the film Trainspotting, we have to “Choose life. Choose a Job. Choose a career. Choose a family.”
Our current obsession with all things oversized may actually be a response to the current state of the world as we choose to regress into our clothes and play dress up, as we once did, in our parents closets. Summer 2025 is a “refusal to put away childish things” as it said in the shownotes, with a collection that invites us all to remember the joy we felt when we played dress up in the ultimate adventure playground. Blazy’s version of course is a tad more masterful, but it calls to mind those hours spent wearing one pant leg layered under a skirt, our fathers supersized blazers, or our mothers fluffy bathrobe – compete with fluffy bunny slippers.
The silhouettes we have come to expect from the house in this new period came undone, as “grown-up allure and sophistication” were banished in the pursuit of pure play. The cuffs on a bomber were scaled up to mimic trying on an adults coat and laughing at the way they swam around our wrists. A crumpled and crinkled section of tailoring (that is sure to turn out to be made of leather or an equally impressive textile innovation) threw away the rulebook which demands we concern ourselves with the facade of perfection everyday – for who and what? – and instead embrace “chic awkwardness”. This was described as a new kind of power dressing where the suit, which would have symbolised authority, tradition, and conservatism, is simply a tool to imagine what the future would hold once all grown-up.
For those of us who have physically outgrown the ability to dress up, we are encouraged to play in Blazy’s world, where according to todays show notes businessmen on the school run with their daughters dutifully carry their pink rucksacks, here it was upgraded to a pink and purple Andiamo backpack. And “a chic Milanese is in the supermarket”, this called for the development of a grocery-style woven basket bag in metallic silver to complete the trick of the eye and the disposable carrier bag becoming a precious keep-all.
The undeniable presence of animals which permeated our lives as children – nursery rhymes of farmyard animals, classrooms named after marine life, and visits to the zoo often a highlight of the school year – were evident from the set design to the minutest design detail (bunny ear buckles and frog jewellery). The set design as a starting point was a joyful way to culminate the last show of the day, as it’s not often the case, but today guests were greeted to a room of animal-shaped beanbag chairs, similar to those they may have had in their room as a child. And as it became a playful hunt to track down the seat with your name on to see which animal would be waiting for you (and enquire as to when they would be available to purchase), the words in todays notes rang true “Can you find power in sweetness?” In this case the answer was a resounding yes, as for summer 2025 we were encouraged to trust in the power of play by once again learning how to find our WOW in the everyday act of dressing up.
THE DIRECTION
THE WRAP UP
As Matthieu Blazy continues to explore new ways to reinvent his singular vision for Bottega Veneta, he managed to spark a sense of joy by asking us to go back to out childhoods and recreate the wonder of dressing up. Super-sizing silhouettes and playfully hiding animal elements within his designs, the desire for his clothes remained high as craft and clothes for actual grown-ups was also kept a focus.
