Milan Fashion Week came to a close on Saturday with its share of surprises, not least an unlikely source of inspiration for Bottega Veneta's much-anticipated evening show, AFP reported.
"For this show, I took as my starting point the scene from Spielberg's film 'E.T.', when the mother opens the closet to reveal a world of stuffed animals..." Bottega Veneta's artistic director Matthieu Blazy explained backstage.
"The surprise of an imaginary world, the world of childhood, where everything is possible, where everything is a game, a joy, an adventure," he said.
Blazy sought to recreate children trying on their parents' clothing, or even the first day of school, "when parents have prepared the perfect outfit for their child, who comes back with everything upside down."
That resulted in dresses just a bit too big, outfits with one leg in pants, the other in a skirt, superimpositions or creases.
As for the dress embroidered with matches?
"It's the object of childhood's forbidden game, intrepid and dangerous," he said.
Earlier Saturday, no less a superstar than Madonna sat in the front row of the Dolce & Gabbana show -- her face barely visible under a black lace veil.
The catwalk became a tribute to the "Material Girl", with all models in blond wigs, some in corsets with pointy breasts, others in black men's tuxedos embellished with trouser braces.
But at Bottega Veneta, not only fashion fans were watching, but investors too.
Founded in 1966 in Vicenza in the northeastern Italian region of Veneto, the label renowned for its woven leather goods and expert craftsmanship became a part of France's Kering group in 2001.
And with Kering's flagship brand Gucci currently in a sales dive -- down 20 percent in the first half of this year -- the company is hoping to make the most of its smaller and less showy Italian brand.
In the first half of 2024, Bottega Veneta posted revenue growth of three percent to 836 million euros ($933 million), whereas Gucci's revenue, while down significantly, was 4.1 billion euros -- nearly half of Kering's entire revenue of nine billion euros.
So while Bottega Veneto may be a drop in the the luxury group's ocean, it is a promising one -- and one that goes hand in hand with its distinctive approach to fashion.
A coveted brand that is notably absent from social networks, Bottega Veneta thrives on discreet hyper-exclusivity, led by the Franco-Belgian Blazy, who took over as creative director at the end of 2021.