2025’s biggest trend? A designer debut. And the 2025 Venice Film Festival seems to be the agreed soft launch.
So far, the year has yielded the first collections of Sarah Burton for Givenchy, Peter Copping for Lanvin, Jonathan Anderson’s menswear at Dior, Michael Rider’s vision for Celine, and Glenn Martens’s first couture week at Maison Margiela. Still to come: marquee talents that will showcase their first designs for their respective houses across Paris and Milan Fashion Week. That list includes: Louise Trotter for Bottega Veneta, Anderson’s Dior womenswear, Dario Vitale’s Versace, Demna Gvasalia’s Gucci, Balenciaga by Pierpaolo Piccioli, Jean Paul Gaultier by Duran Lantink, Miguel Castro Freitas’s Mugler, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez’s Loewe, and Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel. And breathe…
While the major fashion weeks are mere weeks away, celebrities and famous brand ambassadors are already getting a jumpstart, alighting from their water taxis and walking the Venice Film Festival’s red carpet in sneak peeks from the buzziest forthcoming debuts.
If there was ever a question mark over Jacob Elordi’s allegiance to his Bottega Veneta boydom—would he coup d’Chanel, or abscond to Loewe?—fear not. Elordi looks to be onboard with Trotter’s iteration of Bottega. First, the actor touched down at Marco Polo Airport with a suite of Bottega bags, including his beloved Cabat bag and a large suitcase in the signature intrecciato weave. His subsequent appearances across the festival have shown a hint of what’s to come from Trotter. Arriving by gondola, he wore a checked shirt embroidered with “B.V.” and pleated khaki pants. For the press panel, he did Euro all-whites in a billowing shirt and tailored, triple pleat trousers. For the premiere of Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein in which he stars, he appeared in a sleek, double-breasted tuxedo with the brand’s woven Roma lace-up shoes.
Then came the announcement that Father Mother Sister Brother actor Vicky Krieps—who had subtly debuted some of Trotter’s custom work at Cannes Film Festival back in May—is now officially a brand ambassador. Her Venice wardrobe so far has included an olive green leather shirt and Bermuda shorts co-ord for the photocall, and for the premiere, a sculptural and draped, leather-trimmed black dress styled with Bottega signature accessories, including the Rana mules and Intreccio earrings.
What do these looks say about Trotter’s B.V.? There is a palpable focus on Italian craftsmanship, curvaceous yet diaphanous shapes, and precise tailoring that doesn’t lose sight of the house’s textures and aesthetic pillars.
Then it was After The Hunt’s Julia Roberts in a first-look at Vitale’s Versace vision: a sleek, ’90s-leaning day-time look that consisted of a blue wool blazer, a striped shirt, and denim straight-leg jeans. (Later, Amanda Seyfried asked Roberts’s stylist to borrow the look—a sustainable use of custom, and a way to maximize a first-look moment, kind of). Still, it felt like some serious sartorial whiplash, coming from the bold colors and prints of Donatella’s oeuvre. For the premiere, Roberts then wore a custom floor-length Atelier Versace gown made of navy crepe de chine. Vitale’s Versace? Erring on the side of timeless glamour.
Jonathan Anderson, set to showcase Dior womenswear at Paris Fashion Week in October, dressed couple Monica Barbaro and Andrew Garfield, plus Greta Lee, Mia Goth, and Alba Rohrwacher. Anderson created custom couture looks for Barbaro and Rohrwacher, inflected with historical references in their constructions and fabrications. The myriad of daytime and red carpet looks articulated the designer’s focus on tight tailoring and classic silhouettes with an Anderson twist, which he takes with him from his own label and Loewe tenure, augmented with a Café Society-esque floatiness and New Look-era shapes. Anderson’s D.N.A. remains well intact.
For Chanel, Ayo Edebiri and Fernanda Torres wore custom looks that pledged Blazy’s allegiance to the archive. Torres opted for a dark and romantic black velet gown, while Edebiri wore a cascading red gown which was a recreation of a fall winter 1986 Chanel dress, and a white, textured twist on the house’s classic suit set.
And while we’ve seen those first rounds of Martens’s Margiela already, the once anti-celebrity brand continues its new all-in approach in Venice. Cate Blanchett wore a feathered gothic gown, which one of the first public outings of the designer’s fearsome couture collection. Over at the DVF Awards, Kim Kardashian stole the show in sweeping, gray Margiela.
In a year teeming with designer debuts and house musical chairs, a runway amid many, many runways can feel fleeting and samey. Maybe, it’s about the proximity to cinema and its grandeur that designers find alluring. Maybe, the dynamism of a red carpet and a committed brand ambassador feels like a freer space for a label’s new era of statement-making. Whatever it is, there’s something in the water in Venice.
