March 1, 2026 |
On a red carpet runway in Milan, Bottega Veneta staged Louise Trotter’s sophomore outing – and it felt assured.
Trotter doubled down on house codes, especially the Intrecciato weave, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. It climbed leather coats, wrapped collars and interrupted pleated bodies. An exceptional black silk satin and leather jumpsuit shifted from tight pleats into woven panels; a long black coat did the same, its sharply pleated torso seemingly dissolving into a woven collar. The workmanship was relentless – one hand-woven leather cape alone reportedly clocked 4,000 hours.
The opening was controlled and structured. A largely black palette was cut with jolts of cobalt, camel, butter yellow and a dense blood red. Tailoring had that austere-but-voluptuous balance: rounded shoulders, a subtle hourglass, semi-skinny trousers on boys with thin knits layered over shirts, one collar half-popped. Asymmetrical midis were cinched off-kilter; brushed mohair knits – including a red V-neck tank dress – had real heft.
Irina Shayk’s look distilled it perfectly: a mid-calf grey wool coat with exaggerated rounded shoulders and a deep, sculpted lapel plunging almost to the sternum. The line narrowed cleanly through the waist before falling straight, pockets set slightly low and wide to skew the proportion.
Things shifted then. Faux fur and feathery fabrics swished in – shaggy leopard, tiger-striped yellow and white, ice-white dresses blooming with what could have been tiny black flowers. A shimmering blood-red twinset on Mariacarla Boscono dialled up the drama.
Then came the fiberglass. Trotter and the artisans have been experimenting with recycled strands, and this season they pushed it further: furry chubbies and boxy coats in shimmering black and electric cobalt that looked almost lit from within. The surface had a strange, glossy halo – not quite fur, not quite plastic – and it moved with a shudder and swish that felt deliberately theatrical. A salmon pink version softened the effect; a short-sleeved black dress paired with a floofy red hat made it feel almost Studio 54.
There were nods to house history too – the Lauren bag, famously carried by Lauren Hutton in American Gigolo – alongside white shirts and single-lapel tuxedos.
It started out controlled, almost severe. It ended with shimmer, fluff and bounce. Brutalism, softened – then turned up.
Photography courtesy of Bottega Veneta.
