Bottega Veneta opened its Summer 2026 season with a collection that both honored the past and signaled new beginnings. For her debut, creative director Louise Trotter looked back to the foundations of the house, framing her vision through the lens of craftsmanship and the workshop spirit that has defined the brand since 1966.
SPRING SUMMER 2026
“I like that the ‘Bottega’ is a workshop, one with a long and multifaceted history in Italy,” Trotter said. “It’s where the hand and the heart become one.”
The collection drew inspiration from the extravagance of Venice, the pace of New York, and the essentialism of Milan, each serving as touchpoints for a house built on intersections of place and spirit. Trotter also acknowledged Laura Braggion, who served as Bottega Veneta’s first female creative lead from the 1980s into the early 2000s. Alongside this history stood the revolutionary idea of “soft functionality,” first expressed through Renzo Zengiaro’s Intrecciato bags. For Summer 2026, the motif returned in its classic scale, reconfigured for now across clothing and accessories.
Softness and structure played in tandem. Summer-weight tailoring fabrics appeared alongside trench coats in supple Nappa leather and evening gowns lined in cotton. Internal structures, often hidden, were treated with the same discipline as men’s suiting, underscoring the technical roots of Italian workshops. Both men’s and women’s pieces were produced within the same tailoring factories, allowing the rigor and detailing of traditional menswear to flow into the entire collection.
Accessories told their own layered story. The Lauren resurfaced in fresh proportions, the Knot evolved with softened construction, and the Cabat shifted into a clutch. These historic pieces became conversation points with the new, including the Squash, the elongated Framed Tote, and the Crafty Basket, a showcase of artisanal craft at its most intricate. Together, they expressed continuity with reinvention, an intertwining of past and present.
Bottega Veneta’s 60th anniversary shaped the atmosphere of the show. Trotter invited British artist and director Steve McQueen to create its soundtrack. The result, ’66 – ’76, combined recordings of Nina Simone and David Bowie singing Wild Is the Wind, edited into an unexpected duet. McQueen described the work as “an aural Intrecciato,” where two distinct voices interlock to form something new.
For Trotter, Intrecciato remains the house’s language and metaphor. “It is two different strips woven together that become stronger,” she explained. “Collaboration and connectivity run throughout this house and its history, from its beginnings to what it is now.” With Summer 2026, Bottega Veneta opened a new chapter in that story, where tradition and experimentation bind into a singular whole.
