Daniel Lee's Bottega Veneta remains a work in progress.
Lee’s appointment at Bottega came with high expectations buoyed by his Phoebe-centric résumé; he was a longtime assistant to Phoebe Philo, now on industry hiatus . Insider-celebrated, he was also green in the ways of fronting a major brand, and in connecting to women on the emotional level that made Philo more cult goddess than mere fashion star.
Would Lee command a slice of the Phoebe-loving population longing for courtship? After his second runway on Thursday, the answer remains a giant question mark. One point is very clear: Lee has a long way to go, both in clarifying his vision and refining his skills. After the show, Lee said this collection was about “solidifying icons…the things we’ve become known for.
Yet these clothes felt laborious rather than easy, for both men women and men, though more so for women. The lineup drew from that Eighties-Nineties transition period when power dressing morphed into something with a cooler audacity, but it lacked the street cred of the master of that moment, Helmut Lang. Lee had plenty of interesting ideas, but his flourishes of construction often read as tricky.
Lee is in an enviable yet tough position, heading a major brand owned by a major group with a penchant for grand runway statements. Not every newly installed designer at a major house is ready for the grand statement. A year into Lee’s tenure, it’s clear that his Bottega remains a seedling that needs considerable nurturing on the way to full-flower fashion identity.
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