Word: veneta
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Like the brands they celebrate, fashion parties cling to predictable formulas: a big-name DJ, a handful of A-list celebrities and the requisite industry insiders. But when the Italian leather-goods house Bottega Veneta held a dinner in Paris at the chic Relais Plaza restaurant in March, the mood was intentionally low-key and intimate...
...side of the room, ensconced on a banquette with some Parisian notables, was François-Henri Pinault, the affable CEO of PPR (formerly Pinault-Printemps Redoute), which owns Bottega Veneta and other high-end brands such as Gucci. At the center table, surrounded by furniture dealers and a smattering of old friends, sat Tomas Maier, 49, the German-born creative director of Bottega Veneta and the designer largely responsible for ushering in a profitable countertrend of subtlety and refinement to the overblown, logo-besotted luxury market. The mood he had created for the dinner jibed seamlessly with the mood...
Although the dinner was a celebration of Bottega Veneta's new Avenue Montaigne store--a place that Maier designed right down to the boulangerie-style window display of rows of woven-leather accessories--there were other reasons for a fête. In addition to new lines of fine jewelry and furniture, Maier opened 18 stores in 2005; 10 more will make their debut this year. He has transformed Bottega Veneta, which is on its way to an estimated $238 million in sales this year, into PPR's second most successful label after Gucci--even surpassing the iconic Yves Saint Laurent brand...
...brand by the design and quality of the product instead of by a logo--is limited to a very sophisticated consumer, but élitism is what makes it work. A survey conducted last week among wealthy Americans by the New York City--based Luxury Institute revealed that Bottega Veneta outranked Hermès and Armani as the most prestigious luxury fashion brand this year...
...typical bag--the popular woven Cabat tote, for example--rings in at more than $2,000 and can run as high as $75,000 if made in an exotic skin such as crocodile. The company's real signature--woven, or intrecciato, leather--was developed in 1966 when Bottega Veneta started as a family business in the Veneto region of Italy, an area known for soft leather and the craftsmen who know how to manipulate it. The big idea back then--and still today--was to use glove leather for bags, creating a soft, slouchy shape and more casual style...