Matthieu Blazy is exiting Bottega Veneta after three years as creative director of the Italian leather goods label, owner Kering confirmed in a statement. Louise Trotter, who will leave her role as creative director of Carven after the brandâs autumn-winter 2025 show, is set to replace Blazy in January.
According to industry sources, Blazy is headed for Chanel, whose artistic director for fashion collections Virginie Viard exited the company in June. The French couture and cosmetics giant has remained silent as whispers that Blazy had beat out other candidates for the post have spread through the fashion industry in recent weeks.
Blazy joined Bottega Veneta in 2020 as ready-to-wear director working under then-creative chief Daniel Lee. After succeeding Lee as creative director in November 2021, Blazy kept up excitement for the brandâs fashion shows, delivering highly-anticipated outings that projected cutting-edge craftsmanship and cultural prestige, while rebalancing its accessories aesthetic, which had strayed from the labelâs low-key âstealth wealthâ DNA.
The designer transformed banal references like plaid button-ups, oxford shirts and blue jeans â using ultra-realistic trompe lâoeil effects to recreate casual sportswear staples in printed leather â while proposing more extravagant silhouettes including confetti-leather headdresses and feather cocktail dresses.
Blazyâs strong sense of fashion narrative helped to hold together a kaleidoscope of craft techniques and references to cinema, art and music. His spring-summer 2025 collection, for example, explored the grey area between wearing clothes and âdressing upâ with outfits that hinted at children borrowing from their parentsâ wardrobes (but which were nonetheless styled with self-assured elegance).
Under Blazyâs watch, Bottega Veneta also made savvy tie-ups with Hollywood A-listers like Michelle Yeoh, Julianne Moore and Jacob Elordi, as well as design firms (Gaetano Pesceâs studio, Cassina, Zanotta) that helped to underscore its positioning at the intersection of Italianness and innovation.
Sales were sluggish for several seasons as the brand worked to clean up its wholesale distribution before becoming a rare bright spot in Keringâs portfolio. In the third-quarter, revenues climbed 5 percent on a comparable basis as the rest of the groupâs portfolio was hard-hit by a downturn in luxury demand.
Stay tuned to BoF for updates on this developing story.
