BOTTEGA VENETA BY LOUISE TROTTER

Louise Trotter belongs to a generation of designers who treat fashion as a language of discreet luxury. Born in Sunderland, England, and trained at Northumbria University, her accomplished career has been defined by breathing new life into heritage houses. From London to New York, from Joseph to Lacoste, her path shaped one of the great ambitions of contemporary design: transforming functionality into desire, and translating minimalism into emotion.

After her early years at Whistles and Jigsaw, Trotter gained an intimate understanding of everyday dressing. At Joseph, where she served as creative director from 2009 to 2018, she transformed the brand’s British austerity into a clear and fluid proposition. Her eye is always architectural, rooted in structure and industrial design. The result was a series of collections where garments became moving architecture: harmoniously balanced proportions built upon weighted, tactile fabrics.

In 2018, she made history as the first woman to lead Lacoste. There, she reinterpreted the French house’s sporty DNA through the lens of elegance and modernity. The polo, Lacoste’s emblem, was reimagined with technical fabrics and bold styling. Her Lacoste spoke of cosmopolitan life, outdoor movement, and a contemporary refinement free from nostalgia. This ability to braid tradition and innovation prepared her for her next major chapter.

At Carven, her subsequent role, she reaffirmed her command of pattern-cutting, volume, and balance: femininity expressed through geometric precision, layered with Parisian ease and freshness. As Trotter does so masterfully, each collection conversed with the maison’s legacy from a contemporary sensibility, always feeling renewed, never self-referential.

So when Kering announced her appointment as creative director of Bottega Veneta in December 2024, the news was met with equal parts excitement and apprehension. After all, the Bottega Veneta built by Daniel Lee and expanded by Matthieu Blazy had reached unprecedented levels of cultural relevance and desirability. Yet insiders had little doubt that Louise Trotter would succeed, and so she did.

“I want people to be able to move through the world in my clothes.”

With that statement to British GQ, Louise Trotter’s debut at Bottega Veneta articulated a clear thesis: luxury must remain practical, yet continue to surprise. The show, faithful to Trotter’s spirit, breathed movement and volume with a new kind of quiet confidence. The soundtrack, curated by Steve McQueen and interweaving Nina Simone and David Bowie, amplified the pulse of a Bottega Veneta collection rooted not in the future, but firmly in the present.

The opening look set the tone: a pristine navy peacoat, featuring subtle intrecciato details at the collar and knotted closures, a direct nod to the house’s historic Knot bag. What followed was summer tailoring with sculpted shoulders and gently cinched waists. Trotter designs for men and women using the same technical rigor, and it shows: structure breathes with the wearer; garments move with, not against, the body.

Hyper-detailed craftsmanship forms the backbone of the collection. Trotter revisits the original intrecciato, now woven with thinner strips that give the leather a distinctive sheen, flexibility, and lightness. Some pieces approach the sculptural, capes requiring over 4,000 hours of labor, detachable intrecciato collars and stoles, scalloped strips of satin leather with a reptilian shimmer and texture.

Recycled fiberglass reintroduces a touch of spectacle and hedonism reminiscent of the brand’s recent eras, positioning Trotter as a bridge between generations. Pencil skirts, among other silhouettes, came alive with ombré fiberglass fringes, an exploration of Bottega Veneta’s tactile and visual sensibility.

The collection also had its emotional notes. Laura Braggion, the brand’s cofounder and first female creative director, sat front row as a living symbol of that lineage (worldly, discreet, and liberated). Seated beside Lauren Hutton, she witnessed a tribute to her own legacy: look 34, modeled by Mariacarla Boscono, reinterpreted Hutton’s iconic American Gigolo moment with a beige trench and the Laurent 1980 clutch. A conversation across decades, rendered in motion and craft.

In Trotter’s universe, accessories are the vanishing point of the collection—a balance between expanding creativity and preserving function. The intrecciato returns to its original proportion: thinner strips, a tighter sheen, and true flexibility. Through the dialogue between structure and the warmth of the wearer, the bag molds to the body, becoming an extension of its owner. And, true to Bottega Veneta, it remains entirely logo-free.

Identity, here, is built in the details. The Bottega Veneta collection translates the “soft functionality” of the late 1960s into contemporary objects of desire: scrunchy bags designed to crease with intention, hobo silhouettes resting naturally against the hip, and clutches with knotted closures—a clear echo of the Knot. In parallel, Trotter adapts proportions for a modern, working clientele, with generous, laptop-friendly sizes that bridge luxury and everyday purpose.

Trotter’s engineering merges seamlessly with the house’s heritage, visible and invisible alike. While her focus remains on clothing, one cannot overlook the removable leather details on coats and jackets, gestures for days when creativity wins over practicality.

In Bottega Veneta shoes, the thesis of movement reaches its purest form. The new molded clogs strike a joyful yet grounded balance, injecting color and freshness into an established silhouette. The slingbacks, with twisted straps and knotted heels, recall the details seen on Julianne Moore and Vicky Krieps at Cannes, during the first public appearance of Trotter’s designs for the house.

The new Bottega Veneta sneakers stand out for their lightness, designed to counterbalance the collection’s sculptural garments. Everything points to an intentional ergonomics, pieces created for ease, confidence, and movement.

Ultimately, Louise Trotter’s Bottega Veneta is defined by craft, material, and discretion. The clothing abandons heavy fabrics in favor of ease and fluidity, with silk linings that mimic the natural fall of fabric in motion. A visual interest born from precision rather than excess, the pure soul of Bottega Veneta.