“Daniel had an idea that he wanted me to just speak rather than sing, to keep it quite close and intimate as a reflection of the journey we’ve been on this year,” Cherry says. Her words on the record were a rousing score for models Adwoa Aboah, Edie Campbell, and Barbara Valente as they strode across the empty stage—a nod to the simplicity of fashion history’s early salon shows and an extension of the house’s leave no trace philosophy. Tune into Lee and Lebon’s film of the event via Bottega Veneta’s digital channels and you’ll see that there was no ostentatious set, just the models, a clutch of socially distanced friends, and some extremely desirable clothes.
Daniel Lee’s Connection With Dance
Some of Lee’s first experiments in fashion were the dance costumes he made as a child, growing up in Bradford, north England. Later, as a student at London’s Central Saint Martins college, Sadler’s Wells productions broadened his creative outlook, with everything from classical to all-night raves honing the modern Bottega Veneta aesthetic.
The Clothes: Daniel Lee Meets ‘Domesticity’
“For this collection, we’ve definitely been influenced quite heavily by domesticity, the idea of comfort and handicraft, all inspired by the fact that we’re at home,” Lee writes. The collection is extremely tactile (even by Bottega Veneta’s cuddlesome standards), with the majority of the fabrics and finishes (bouclé, crochet, and knit) hinting at soothing home furnishings.
Aboah wears a zinging knit dress, with matching snap-handle clutch and mules, which riffs off the nostalgia of homespun 1960s knitting patterns. As usual, there’s Lee’s idiosyncratic and intuitive use of color: melt-in-the-mouth sherbet yellows, Hockney blues, and faint sunset-pinks. In between corseted zip-up jackets (see model Jean Campbell’s look), skirt suiting, and a deliciously shiny aqua party dress, there’s a heaping of homemade knitwear, hence why the artistic collaboration with Trockel makes so much sense.
Adwoa Aboah backstage at the spring 2021 show. Photographed by Tyrone Lebon.
“It’s all very much about comfort, there’s a lot of stretch and generous fabrics,” Lee’s email explains. Backstage, the models wore house renditions of classic hotel robes and slippers, designed to match the fabric of the pink and green evening dresses.
Accessories mavens will already have spotted the ‘Puffy Dear’—a pillowy briefcase that blurs the line between work, cocktail, and casualwear—and the high-jinks chunky wedge heels that round off the collection’s matchy-matchy feel. The question now is: how soon can we wear it on a dance floor?