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An ode to Italy past and present, Belgian wunderkind Matthieu Blazy’s Autumn Winter 2023 collection for Bottega Veneta resounded with historical characters and bold, textural statements of craft. Conceived as a passing Italian parade informed by the level playing field of the street, the cast of ‘priests and playboys, sleepwalkers and streetwalkers’ are as eclectic as they are uniform in assembly and hierarchy.

The bronze sculpture ‘Unique Forms of Continuity in Space’ (1913) by Italian artist Umberto Boccioni, on loan from the National Gallery of Cosenza in Calabria, was placed among Ancient Roman bronze Corridori (runners) dating from 1BC, from the National Archeological Museum (MANN) collection in Naples. They rest on a carpeted pedestal mimicking the soft terrazzo floor, romanticising the mythology of antiquity and Futurist anticipation in a befitting conclusion to the designer’s ‘Italia’ trilogy. Models weaving around these sculptures evoked the unstoppable passage of time and space, celebrated and conflated in an exercise of appropriating history, from Carnevale to Botticelli, to spark interdimensional dialogue.

“I loved the idea of the parade in Italy; a procession, a strange carnival, a crowd of people from anywhere and everywhere and yet somehow, they all fit and go in the same direction. I wanted to look at what makes people gather together in a place without hierarchy, where everyone is invited.” – Matthieu Blazy

Blazy’s ingenious experimentation and manipulation of material was present throughout the show, expanding his trompe l’oeil leathercraft from denim to pinstripe nightshirts, flannel pyjamas and even bed socks. This concept of reconfiguration is pushed further beyond craft, and applied to reinventing historical silhouettes and rearranging silk embroidery. Metamorphosis, as put forward by Bottega Veneta, signals a Pandora’s Box of chimerical possibilities that allows the wearer to confidently be whoever or whatever they wish.

“A parade: The alchemy of the street is in the difference; who will you meet? What is around the corner? Who will amaze you? It is the surprise of the encounter that has importance.”

Below is an exclusive portfolio documenting the Bottega Veneta Autumn Winter 2023 collection in movement around the bronze sculptures.