‘Break the Internet’ Bottega went one further and Deleted it… And it’s not just Instagram who has gotten the cold shoulder: the brand has also removed itself from Twitter and Facebook. The move means Bottega Veneta, is the first fashion brand to scrub its social media presence.
But to me this isn’t the real story, it feels quite simply like just another master stroke by a Brand which is on a Meteoric rise and led by the young visionary Creative Director - Daniel Lee.
Very little was known about Daniel Lee and when Kering announced that the 32-year-old Brit was taking over as creative director at Bottega Veneta. Beyond Lee’s age and a handsome photo of him in a white T-shirt and jeans, the Kering press release stated his most recent position as director of ready-to-wear design at Celine and a string of posts at Maison Margiela, Balenciaga, and Donna Karan.
Two years later, the industry knows little more about him. Anomalously for a millennial, Lee doesn’t have an Instagram account and hasn’t been making the social rounds in Milan. By his own account, his closest friends aren’t in fashion. He’s focused on the work.
Perhaps this sense of practicality can be attributed to his upbringing. Raised in Bradford, where his father worked as a mechanic and his mother was a stay-at-home mum (he is the eldest of three – his brother is a plumber and his sister is an A&E nurse: “They do really different, useful things,” he acknowledges), Lee was an academic child. “I was a geek. Still am,” he says, smiling.
He was good at languages and considered a profession in the law, but what he loved most, he recalls, was “making things”. His creativity resulted in a place at Central saint Martins then internships with Martin Margiela and at Balenciaga under the direction of Nicolas Ghesquiere. His graduate collection earned him a job with Donna Karan in New York, where he stayed for two years, before being plucked by Celine, eventually working his way up to Phoebe Philo’s ready-to-wear design director.
In a 2018 interview with Vogue,Lee talked about his task of keeping Bottega Veneta relevant among a younger audience, his ambivalence towards social media was hard to miss. “I just think the world changes very fast,” he said. “Obviously I’m from a very different generation. I am a millennial. To me it’s not a foreign territory. I grew up with the Internet. I’m aware of social media; I like it in some respects, I don’t in others. It’s part of modern-day culture. Obviously, fashion is about change; it’s a kind of conversation about the world. Yeah, we have to keep up, for sure.”
The longer you think about it, the more the strategy makes sense for Bottega Veneta. Last month, he opted for a salon performance with a two-month image embargo instead. And of course, he worked under the famously offline Phoebe Philo during her tenure at Celine. Back then, Celine barely had a website and did not offer e-commerce, a decision that turned its stores into sacred spaces.
Seeing as Lee has made a point of going against the grain thus far—just when we think we know what to expect from his Bottega—his pivot away from social media (particularly when brands are increasingly reliant on it) makes a noticeable statement.
Rules are rules, but 33-year-old Lee is intent on rewriting them. Take one of Bottega Veneta’s famed intrecciato woven handbags, for example, a staple of the brand since it was founded in 1966. His first move on taking over from Tomas Maier, who had helmed the house for 17 years, was to blow it up, supersizing the technique to dramatic new proportions. That single design spoke volumes about his Bottega Veneta: Lee respects its heritage but has the guts to do things his way. “With a little bit of thinking you can do so much with the weave,” he says. “I liked the idea of enlarging it because I like things that are bold and quite direct. I like things that are straightforward.”
The brand have taken the ‘Chain’ to the streets of Sydney as part of its new installation The Gold Chain in Campbell’s Cove. It’s here the freshly-minted BV symbol sits alongside another icon, the Sydney Harbour – flanked by infamous Australian landmarks, the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
As you can see in the image below, The Gold Chain is pretty much as described – a gigantic gourmette chain, draped and coiled over a matching gilded platform. According to the designer, the installation was created to bring the chain beyond the product to signify Bottega Veneta’s brand philosophy.
“An iconic emblem of the brand, the Bottega Veneta chain imbues strength, self-confidence and individuality,” the Italian house said in a statement. The Gold Chain’s impressive settings continue across the globe, with the house linking up with other international cities for the installation, including Tokyo and Shanghai.
As the designer label du jour right now, Bottega Veneta can be counted on to turn even the most unimaginative items into sartorial gold – case in point, the house’s now-iconic chunky chain, which decorates a number of Bottega Veneta’s ever popular apparel and accessories, including the Chain Pouch and chain-embellished mesh pumps.
When the news was announced that Lee would replace Maier, he may have been an unknown, but his Céline backstory spread like wildfire among fashion editors, buyers and customers left bereft by Philo’s departure. In turn, his debut for the autumn pre-collection was the most eagerly awaited of recent seasons.
He was quoted saying “My job is to really make Bottega Veneta part of the fashion conversation, but this is a true heritage house, and that is something that moves a lot slower and in a very different way to something that’s ‘fashion’,” he explains. “Trying to change this house into a fashion brand is a huge task.” Judging by his few collections, he has made it look relatively easy.
Is going off the radar the new luxury?
