Moving Against The Stream: The Industry Goes Digital, Bottega Veneta Goes Offline
Bottega Veneta SS20 Collection Shot By Tyrone Lebon
Among an unprecedented number of uncertainties, one of the most shocking news that 2021 has brought so far to the fashion industry is Bottega Veneta deleting all of its social media accounts on January 4th.
This decision (although not officially explained) seems to be the first move of a new marketing strategy led by Daniel Lee. In the past decade, the Creative Director of Bottega Veneta has completely transformed the DNA of the Italian brand, converting it into one of François-Henri Pinault’s top gems at Kering.
In 2018, when Daniel Lee took into his hands the creative direction of the Maison, Bottega Veneta was starting to fade away from the eyes of the industry . Since 1966, the brand has been mostly recognized and admired for its iconic “intrecciato” technique– a method used to create a geometric pattern by weaving thin strips of leather on bags and leather good. The crafts, originating from Vicenza, lacked modernity and restricted the brand’s innovation. The young Daniel Lee, who had previously worked at Celine, Maison Margiela, and Balenciaga, took up the challenge to reinvent the brand and bring it back to life.
After only a year, the designer won four of the British Fashion Awards, moving out of the shadows into the limelight.
His uncontested talent conquered bloggers and influencers all around the world, with a large fanbase on Instagram applauding all of his creations. Two summers ago, it was impossible to walk around Milan without seeing the effortlessly cool editorial campaigns of Bottega Veneta, advertising the rebranding and revival of the brand.
In an interview with Tim Blanks for the Business of Fashion, he admitted it part of the success for its “Pouch” bag:
“And this bag had a tactile, soft, sensual, very photogenic aspect to it. […] And obviously objects that photograph well work today when the internet is such an important tool”
Daniel Lee’s First Bottega Veneta Collection: The AW19 Campaign Shot By Tyrone Lebon
After managing an impressive resurrection, people could not stop wondering: Why did Bottega Veneta decide overnight to disappear from the Internet, cutting their ties short with 4 million of followers?
To begin with, Daniel Lee himself never had a personal account on Instagram. Similarly to the successful Phoebe Philo at Chloé, where he worked before, the designer seems to be part of the limited club of fashion personalities refusing an online identity. No wonder why he would also like to keep Bottega Veneta in the down-low.
But the main reason behind this new marketing strategy is more likely to be found in the last Spring-Summer 2021 Collection of Bottega Veneta. Kept secret for months, the final show was held in a hidden spot in London, reserved to an uncommonly small and privileged group of exclusive clients and personalities. The “private” show respected the aesthetics codes instituted by Daniel Lee. This collection suggested a total renewal, something so peculiar that it needed to be protected. The absolute novelty of it was held in this very concept of “exclusivity”. After the suppression of all its social media accounts, it is fair to suppose that Bottega Veneta did not choose a “secret” community to only respect Covid rules in this show, but threw the first stone of its new exclusive and private identity.
Bottega Veneta Pre-Spring 2020 Campaign Shot By Tyrone Lebon
It is impossible to clearly understand the reasons behind this unprecedented shift, but the saturated market of social media has been more and more criticized, and some of these ideas might have hit Daniel Lee.
High-end brands put all their efforts into being modernized and more accessible to the youth– an obvious example being Gucci, creating more and more tactics to appeal to Gen Z. Without a doubt, the essence of luxury has been preserved with the same reiterated promise: craftsmanship and products of exceptional quality. Nonetheless, this argument has been put aside to the benefit of playful and dynamic marketing campaigns, promoting luxury as an absolutely essential element of “coolness”. Therefore, luxury is not as polarizing as before. Nowadays, having a designer’s masterpiece is rather seen as a proof of fashion interest and taste, than an effusive exhibition of richness. Somehow, luxury has become popular.
Even if only an extremely tiny part of the population can buy it, on Instagram luxury is accessible everywhere. Everybody can dream about it, touch it, have it. Less than a decade ago, luxury was held behind the closed doors of prestigious and inaccessible shops and shows. Now it is available to anyone with a smartphone.
Daniel Lee, on the contrary, takes luxury back to its very origin and, by leaving the digital world, offers his clients an intensified experience of reality. Recently, in an interview with Vogue Runway, he mentioned his last SS21 Collection as “… a bit like going backwards and thinking about how fashion shows began. This idea of salon shows. […] It felt extremely intimate and much more personal.”
Bottega Veneta Fall 2020 Campaign Shot By Tyrone Lebon