By Windy Aulia - published
Louise Trotter’s much-anticipated debut as Creative Director at Bottega Veneta for the spring/summer 2026 collection marks not just a change in leadership, but a renewed conversation between heritage and reinvention. Unveiled during Milan fashion week, her first offering stood out as both a tribute to the House’s artisanal soul and a clear signal of a new creative energy taking root.
As one of the very few female creative directors who is currently helming a major fashion house, Trotter’s new take on Bottega Veneta is also weighted by the recent commercial and editorial success that the Italian brand has been enjoying in the past years. The industry waited with bated breath, while customers were deciding whether to rush to Bottega Veneta’s beautiful boutiques or to wait for another season. The verdict is in, and Trotter passed with flying colours.
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Held at Fabbrica Orobia, the show was bathed in late‑afternoon light that contrasted with the more dramatic evening settings of past seasons’ spectacles. Leather chains and web‑like drapery hung across the space, while cuboid Murano glass stools in muted tones dotted the floor, situating the audience within a tactile, immersive environment.
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This tactility was what Trotter proposed almost throughout the entire collection, shining a bright spotlight onto Bottega Veneta’s venerable craftsmanship. From the very first look—a sharply tailored navy peacoat accented with an Intrecciato detail at the collar and knotted leather elements in lieu of buttons—Trotter established her intention: to tread lightly on legacy while bringing her own voice.
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Material play was also a highlight: supple leathers, satin, wool, and even fibreglass fringe appeared side by side. The fringe pieces, in particular, offered kinetic contrast—glistening skirts, coats that felt alive in motion, edge and softness woven together. Volume also shifted deftly: garments that hug the bust, waist, and hips before blooming outward; dresses that slide across the body; layered outerwear that responds to form and air.
Yet within the collection’s architecture, there is still wearability. Tailoring remains precise and rooted in everyday movement. Oversized blazers, elegant slip dresses, leather outerwear with soft structure—they feel designed for a woman who moves between worlds.
One of the more poignant gestures in Trotter’s debut was her invocation of Laura Braggion, Bottega Veneta’s first female creative lead in the 1970s, and her broader engagement with the brand’s history of “functional” design and women’s liberation. Lauren Hutton—who famously carried a Lauren bag decades ago in the iconic movie American Gigolo—was seated in the front row, clutch in hand. That gesture felt like a passing of the torch, an acknowledgment that the brand’s past can inform its future without constraining it.
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Another remarkable thing from the collection is how Trotter balanced deference with irreverence. She didn’t destroy Bottega’s codes; she reinterpreted them through her lens, breathing new life into the house’s identity. She did not simply inherit a legacy. She is staking a claim to what Bottega Veneta can be next: intelligent, tactile, women‑anchored, and unafraid to take risks.
If the spring/summer 2026 show was the first chapter, it sets a tone of elegance, craft, and narrative potential. The fashion world will now wait to see how Trotter carries this forward—how she stitches her vision into the Maison’s next seasons to come.