Discover Bottega Veneta’s covetable new collection

Daniel Lee may not be on Instagram, but Bottega Veneta’s recently appointed creative director certainly knows how to create viral trends. An @NewBottega tribute account has garnered 153k followers, while the corresponding hashtag has over 14.6K posts. The secret to his success? Hitting the sweet spot between designing something that feels entirely new and something that still feels true to the fashion house’s time-honored heritage.

Lee’s accessories are perhaps one of the greatest examples of how he has evolved Bottega Veneta’s iconic intrecciato weave. Lee, who deservedly won Designer of the Year at the 2019 Fashion Awards – as well as British Designer of the Year Womenswear and Accessories Designer of the Year – has recast the storied interlaced leather design via his cult mules and highly coveted handbags. For cruise 2020, he pumped the pattern up to bold new proportions with his Arco tote: exaggerated panels of rust-colored leather were woven into a sleek yet capacious silhouette. Elsewhere, he used more traditionally intricate interlaces of soft matt leather to craft a wrist-slung clutch bag in a cheerful pop of orange.

These playful hues perfectly contrast against the grown-up palette of Lee’s cruise 2020 ready-to-wear collection – a sophisticated mix of beige, brown and black – creating an elegant but irreverent daily uniform. Since his very first collection, Lee has referenced stylish Milanese women as his inspiration, and while his designs have a Parisian-inflected nonchalance, they are bursting with Italian individuality too. This season, he also cited Milan’s culture of industrial design, which can instantly be seen in the graphic lines of a two-tone trench coat with its leather top half and classic gabardine-style bottom half.

Other stand-out pieces include a boxy but louchely tailored chocolate pantsuit – wear it belted at the waist to create an hourglass silhouette. An oversized, sand-colored jumpsuit with traditional epaulettes and gold button details is the type of one-and-done piece that you can wear to evening events with heels or at the weekend tucked into combat boots. And a pair of black wide-leg pants with a sporty zipped detail, that comes with a matching sleeveless polo shirt, are perfect for updating your officewear with a cool but polished edge. Each piece in the collection feels at once statement but understated and evokes a kind of soft power with expert cuts, luxe materials and an uber-cool esthetic.

The beauty of Bottega Veneta is in the detail, particularly in the distinctive shoes. A pioneer of the return of the ’90s square-toe silhouette, this season, Lee further refined his ultra-modern footwear designs: one amber snakeskin, mid-heel style wraps gracefully up the ankle, cinching wide leg pants into a coolly draped effect that has become one of the house’s new, signature styling tricks. Another style with vintage-feel toe straps and sculptural heels comes in pale white and dusty lemon, lending a ladylike elegance to utilitarian separates.

When the Bradford-born Englishman was appointed creative director of Bottega Veneta in June 2018, he was mostly recognised as the relatively unknown right-hand man to Phoebe Philo at Celine. His quiet rise to the head of one of the most coveted fashion brands in the world has put him in pole position to define the look of a new decade, as celebrities and fashion editors alike continue to fall head-over-heels for his cool but feminine esthetic.