In the nearly three years since Tomas Maier took over at Bottega Veneta, he s been inching methodically forward—from explaining the intricacies of the house bags and accessories to developing a full-fledged clothing line to go with them. What began as a few luxe sporty sweaters and jackets kept on a rack in the back is now a 60-piece collection, which Maier presented on models clustered on a series of podiums in the company showroom. "It isn t like normal ready-to-wear," Maier explained. "I had the concept of designing clothes like accessories. Everyone has their own personality, and will pick things out to wear in their own way."
Maier s aesthetic is clean and ageless in spirit, with luxury worked in as a result of the extraordinary handcraft that goes into producing exclusive fabrics, prints, and finishes. He used salt-and-pepper baby tweed for coats, tunics, and pants; cashmere for double-layered cardigan coats in beige and chartreuse; and Deco-derived swirly and geometric prints for A-line skirts and drop-waisted dresses. The effect was feminine and modern, but it was still the accessories that kept the audience circling for a closer look. Most want-able are the new bags: a multicolored Mondrian-esque weave, a framed croc in poison green reissued from the sixties, and the chunky, rounded minaudières studded with tiger s-eye.
