ボッテガ・ヴェネタはSS25ウィメンズウェアに子供のような驚きを持っていました

Though Milan is the city of Italian heritage fashion, that doesn’t mean it likes to play it safe. Earlier in the week, we saw Prada offer up one of its most insane collections yet, one that included a deep dive into the archive and a preparation for life by algorithm. Next up was Gucci, and Sabato De Sarno took us swinging into the 1960s with colourful new prints and gravity-defying minis. Now, on the penultimate day of Milan Fashion Week, it’s Bottega Veneta’s turn. So, if you weren’t in Milan to catch Matthieu Blazy’s unexpected detour into childhood for SS25, we’ve got you covered – scroll down for everything that went down at Bottega Veneta’s latest show.

Though there’s some stiff competition in Milan, Bottega’s front row is always curated to perfection. The label doesn’t just have anyone turn up, but extends invitations to genuine stars and those at the peak of their cultural relevance. This season, making appearances on the front row were former campaign stars Jacob Elordi and A$AP Rocky, plus Julianne Moore, Michelle Yeoh, James Blake, Sampha, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and a newly-blonde Kendall Jenner. As well as those, TikTok’s demure icon Jools Lebron made a surprise yet very mindful appearance at the SS25 show, as did boxer and Olympic champion Imane Khelif.

But before the show had even begun, guests were given a glimpse of Blazy’s first new collection – a set of 60 animal bean bags inspired by the iconic Zanotto Sacco chair, designed in 1968. Named The Ark, the collection of rotund chairs weren’t just for display, though, but were about to be the actual front row seats that the likes of Rocky and Elordi were to on for the show. Featuring 15 different animals, the chairs were inspired by “a joyful world with a sense of wonder”, and also heavily hinted at the themes of the collection to come…

If the animal bean bags hadn’t been enough of a giveaway, Blazy’s newest collection was all about our inner child. Oversized shapes dominated the offering, as if little children had dressed up in their parents clothing after they had just left the house. Definitely the slouchiest silhouettes we’ve seen Blazy play with, there were longline liquid waistcoats, billowing coach jackets and enormous hulking shoulders, while a childlike wonder was also coded into the kaleidoscopic palette, and a sweater vest with a playful matchstick print.

Elsewhere, in a section towards the end of the show, blazer shirts and dresses came creased and crumpled as if they’d just been pulled from the bottom of a child’s laundry basket, while the Bottega Veneta staple – the flannel shirt – was rendered in couture grade materials, and cinched in at the waist for an altogether more elevated look.

At other points on the catwalk, Blazy’s new found inner child could be found in the accessories, too. Frogs popped up as brooches clasped to cardigans, a fish-shaped scarf was draped round a model’s shoulders, while the leather fringing Blazy loves to use in his collections was made into some spiky, wacky wigs that closed the show. Elsewhere, one burgundy leather bag was stitched with white lacing to resemble an American football, and if all that wasn’t enough, models also clasped at faux-plastic grocery bags, as if they’d dressed up in their parent’s work clothes and then grabbed a shopping tote in place of a suitcase.

Though Blazy has always had threads of playfulness run through his collections, this is arguably the most wondrous offering we’ve seen from him, and after the show he explained his intentions. “As a kid, there is the adventure of the everyday – there’s a feeling that anything could happen, no matter how fantastical and we are not so bound by regular expectations and conventions. The door is open to the possibility of strange realities and wonder, impossible scenarios that banish disillusion.” Bottega may be a very grown up brand, but for SS25 it’s taken a detour into the childlike, and the new clothes are communicating that very sense of freedom and joy.

Though Milan is the city of Italian heritage fashion, that doesn’t mean it likes to play it safe. Earlier in the week, we saw Prada offer up one of its most insane collections yet, one that included a deep dive into the archive and a preparation for life by algorithm. Next up was Gucci, and Sabato De Sarno took us swinging into the 1960s with colourful new prints and gravity-defying minis. Now, on the penultimate day of Milan Fashion Week, it’s Bottega Veneta’s turn. So, if you weren’t in Milan to catch Matthieu Blazy’s unexpected detour into childhood for SS25, we’ve got you covered – scroll down for everything that went down at Bottega Veneta’s latest show.

Though there’s some stiff competition in Milan, Bottega’s front row is always curated to perfection. The label doesn’t just have anyone turn up, but extends invitations to genuine stars and those at the peak of their cultural relevance. This season, making appearances on the front row were former campaign stars Jacob Elordi and A$AP Rocky, plus Julianne Moore, Michelle Yeoh, James Blake, Sampha, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and a newly-blonde Kendall Jenner. As well as those, TikTok’s demure icon Jools Lebron made a surprise yet very mindful appearance at the SS25 show, as did boxer and Olympic champion Imane Khelif.

But before the show had even begun, guests were given a glimpse of Blazy’s first new collection – a set of 60 animal bean bags inspired by the iconic Zanotto Sacco chair, designed in 1968. Named The Ark, the collection of rotund chairs weren’t just for display, though, but were about to be the actual front row seats that the likes of Rocky and Elordi were to on for the show. Featuring 15 different animals, the chairs were inspired by “a joyful world with a sense of wonder”, and also heavily hinted at the themes of the collection to come…

If the animal bean bags hadn’t been enough of a giveaway, Blazy’s newest collection was all about our inner child. Oversized shapes dominated the offering, as if little children had dressed up in their parents clothing after they had just left the house. Definitely the slouchiest silhouettes we’ve seen Blazy play with, there were longline liquid waistcoats, billowing coach jackets and enormous hulking shoulders, while a childlike wonder was also coded into the kaleidoscopic palette, and a sweater vest with a playful matchstick print.

Elsewhere, in a section towards the end of the show, blazer shirts and dresses came creased and crumpled as if they’d just been pulled from the bottom of a child’s laundry basket, while the Bottega Veneta staple – the flannel shirt – was rendered in couture grade materials, and cinched in at the waist for an altogether more elevated look.

At other points on the catwalk, Blazy’s new found inner child could be found in the accessories, too. Frogs popped up as brooches clasped to cardigans, a fish-shaped scarf was draped round a model’s shoulders, while the leather fringing Blazy loves to use in his collections was made into some spiky, wacky wigs that closed the show. Elsewhere, one burgundy leather bag was stitched with white lacing to resemble an American football, and if all that wasn’t enough, models also clasped at faux-plastic grocery bags, as if they’d dressed up in their parent’s work clothes and then grabbed a shopping tote in place of a suitcase.

Though Blazy has always had threads of playfulness run through his collections, this is arguably the most wondrous offering we’ve seen from him, and after the show he explained his intentions. “As a kid, there is the adventure of the everyday – there’s a feeling that anything could happen, no matter how fantastical and we are not so bound by regular expectations and conventions. The door is open to the possibility of strange realities and wonder, impossible scenarios that banish disillusion.” Bottega may be a very grown up brand, but for SS25 it’s taken a detour into the childlike, and the new clothes are communicating that very sense of freedom and joy.