How Bottega Green Become the It Color of the Early 2020s

In 50 years, when fashion experts review the pandemic’s impact on fashion, two things will immediately be apparent. We wore a lot of sweatpants, and we donned A LOT of Bottega green. Reintroduced in late 2020 at Bottega Veneta’s Spring/Summer 2021 show, the (now unmistakable) bold shade of green quickly worked its way onto the bodies and into the arms of fashion lovers. Looking back, its ubiquity was somewhat of a rebirth for the fashion world, and Bottega green’s rise to the top paved the way for the It-colors that would come next (lilac and Barbie pink come to mind).

This revolution took hold, all thanks to a perfect storm of sorts. Many of us were fatigued by the late 2020s trend towards minimalism (visions of perfectly curated beige Instagram feeds come to mind), and at the same time, collectively, we were finding joy in dressing up again after months of lockdown, limited social interactions and few opportunities to get dressed to the nines.

Go for the (Bottega) Green

Colors have a big influence on the human mind, and depending on the color of choice, they can elicit joy and positively impact one’s mood. It’s not all that surprising that Bottega Green picked up steam in the way it did, even though it was pioneered by a luxury brand when the world was in a state of uncertainty, economically and otherwise.

Bottega Veneta’s bold shade of green quickly became a go-to as the world opened up again, and people found joy in going out and dressing up. And it wasn’t just Bottega Veneta – the hue, lovingly dubbed Bottega green, would soon join other brand’s line ups — both luxury and contemporary. Additionally, the bright grass green color would become synonymous with BV, integral to its store designs and branding long after its creator, Daniel Lee, had departed.

Fashion’s collective obsession with color can largely be tied back to Bottega green, and while purple and Barbie pink were big contenders as the next It-color, even Barbie didn’t have the power to rival Bottega. Despite the growing move towards more minimalist looks once again, color continues to trend. I do think that we’ll see a surge in the popularity of the color red (truthfully, we already are), similar to how purple, pink, and yellow have boomed. However, I think it will be a long time before another color has as much cultural significance as Bottega Green had and continues to have.