Matthieu Blazy was a seasoned designer, yet relatively unknown, when he was promoted from within the ranks at Bottega Veneta. Founded in 1966, this Italian company is known for artisanal savoir faire in leatherwork and a memorable ’70s tagline, “when your own initials are enough.” The idea was to direct attention to products rather than branding or the designer, an approach that Blazy, known to be a team player, adopted.
His debut collection, for fall 2020, was a revelation: Blazy’s fantasy of the everyday—trompe l’oeil jeans and a white tank top, both in leather—pushed traditional craftsmanship into new territory. “When we sat down with the team I said, ‘Let’s do something mega-craft that is also extremely real,’” the designer told Vogue. These pieces might have fooled the eye, but they were real-real—tactile and dimensional—as opposed to hyper-real. In a sense Blazy broke through the third wall in a digital world with designs that invited touch and intimacy; they had to be experienced to be believed and fully appreciated. Here, a look back at the best of Blazy’s Bottega Veneta as it appeared in the pages of Vogue.
