Daniel Lee abruptly departed Bottega Veneta earlier this month and fans were, inevitably, shook. The news spawned rumors as to why the sudden upheaval and social media was abuzz with opinions. The House, which went through a massive overhaul following Lee’s appointment, as parent company Kering aimed to modernize, was mum as to why the two parted ways, citing a mutual decision. And whether you love(d) Lee’s #NewBottega or not, there’s no denying both the brand’s relevance within the fashion world, as well as its financial success under Lee’s tenure. And now that Bottega Veneta has finally named a successor, the question begs to be asked, what’s next for Bottega Veneta?
What is Next for Bottega Veneta
Less than a week after the news broke, Bottega Veneta announced that the role of Creative Director would be filled by the brand’s current director of RTW, Matthieu Blazy. The designer, who worked under Lee after stints at Maison Margiela, Calvin Klein, and Celine, is an obvious, albeit controversial, choice for the brand. Fashion fans and critics online were quick to point out a missed opportunity to appoint a person of color, and rightfully so, but on the flip side, it makes sense for the House to name a successor that is familiar with the brand’s current vision and trajectory.
Fans Should Expect to See More of the Same
In my opinion, the House will continue to expand upon Lee’s legacy, which has proven to be successful for the House, and promoting from within was the best way to ensure continued success. Bottega Veneta is not looking to undergo another major overhaul; rather, they’re priming to further develop and hone in on an already successful new vision. While it makes the most sense for Kering not to stray from its current path, there’s a second question that begs to be asked. At what point will fashion actually implement real change following the social justice movement that began last year?
And what do you think? Will Bottega Veneta continue with its current trajectory or surprise fans with a new vision once again?
15 comments
I think we will need to wait and see what new twists and tweaks come from Blazy to determine their path. But I feel like BV definitely opened the window for another house to take the lead on trends.
How about they hire a person for their qualifications and not because the color of their skin… 🙄 So they should hire a black person just because their black?!… that’s racism.
It’s ‘they’re’ not ‘their’.
Karen, you miss the point. No one said they shouldn’t be qualified; of course they should.
The comment in the article feels like virtue signaling, at best.
Okay hold your horses lol
That is NOT racism. What diverse hiring means is doing a more in-depth search for an applicant within a wider and more diverse applicant pool. The way diversifying an applicant pool works is to do hiring outreach to more large audiences across many different job boards, posting sites, etc, to attract a larger audience. It also means having a more diverse hiring committee to interview and review the hiring process to ensure ethics. The interview process of course keeps into high considerations the qualifications of a person, but the point is that qualifications are not only possessed by certain people, and considering the role privilege plays in normative society, it is clear that many employers assume white people are the best fit for a certain role considering how much more saturated many industries are with white employees vs. other employees of color.
Also, considering the probability of amount of people there are applying for jobs, there is almost always a capacity, and an applicant for an employer in any industry to find an employee of color. And there is no requirement to hire a person of color, it is about encouraging a fair game to all types of people during during the applicant review process, and giving fair consideration to applicants of all races.
There are also instances where bias plays a role in automation features of job application sites. Research has been done (I need to find it) about linkedin where the automated filtering algorithms would push down applicants with “unusual” names as marked as spam versus more common names like “Adam Smith” or “Alex Murray.” Within the unusual names, the algorithm would look at more “foreign sounding” names of different languages as spam, and those resumes would never be seen by the employer, despite them being actual applicants with a higher likelihood of being a person of color. I hope this helps!
They’re* lol
Actually I take my comment back. It should be “because one is black”. Singular!
As a person of colour, I completely agree… it is completely offensive to hire someone just because they may tick a particular box. As Dr King once said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Hire whoever is best, virtue signalling isn’t going to get anyone anywhere.
This is an ignorant comment. These companies have been hiring by nepotism and “who knows who” for decades, if not centuries, and people only begin to complain about “qualifications” when it comes to hiring Black employees.
Dr. King wanted equality, but he certainly didn’t believe it happens by the magic of trusting corrupt humans to choose “the best qualifications.” Please don’t quote the most basic MLK quote and use it as an argument in support of a racist system. Here’s a real quote,
“True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.”
If it takes building systems of hiring that bring down bias and promote diversity, than so be it. Preaching about qualifications gets no one but the privileged anywhere.
You’re a POC? Prove it.
👀
That’s absolutely true but now a days it is all a about box checking unfortunately for some and fortunately for others
You’re an idiot. You know you can be a person do color and COMPLETELY QUALIFIED for the job? Whenever y’all trot out this mess of an “argument,” that part never clicks in your brain. And lol at jumping from person of color to black…your bias is showing.
This comment screams “I’m an old boomer, out of touch, white woman”