A Thursday evening in the spring in San Marco, Venice The Hotel Danieli, near the square, woke up, brought to life in dazzling evening gowns as twilight fell on its windows. Women in yellow suits and pretty draped dresses move between furniture. The men wore funny shoes on stone floors and old-world rugs. Travelers are charismatic, restless, and allegations of misconduct spill over to the canal’s edge. Venice, the unchanging city, seems to be bound by a new energy.
Matthieu Blazy of Bottega Veneta, who seems to have come out of nowhere, spins down the hotel’s main staircase and heads for the crowd below. He was tall, with short light brown hair, and wore a loose tan summer suit—double-breasted, open, with rolled up sleeves—over a black T-shirt. His shoes are soft woven leather, and his demeanor is sober confidence. At the end of last year, in 014, Blazy has been named creative director of Bottega Veneta, the most famous fashion house in this windy and tasteful region of northeastern Italy, after his career seemed to many to be a hidden Games in sight. (As the artist Sterling Ruby, who worked closely with Blazy, put it, “I just thought: it’s about time.”) After leaving school, he was hired by Raf Simons and went on to work at Maison Martin Margiela and Céline, where he made his mark on the market Known for his pragmatic understanding and interest in ambitious art. While many young designers have been appointed to high-level positions, Blazy seems to be the perpetual sidekick, gathering authority with startling small gestures outside the public eye.
Both times were good
Blazy’s Bottega Veneta debut had a lively wearability, including a jacket cut like a shirt and slender trousers. Models Mamuor Awak and Riam wear Bottega Veneta shirts, pants, boots and earrings.
, September 2018.
Before taking the helm at Bottega Veneta, Blazy was its design director — the No. 2 post came after Daniel Lee, who left abruptly last year, and said his work habits were almost Nothing changed with promotion. (“I like working in teams,” he says, “not me confronting products and giving opinions.”) His taste is thoughtful, safe, but he’s used to leaving them behind like hidden bouquets , the more the better to hear what others have to say; among creative directors, he is known for being transparent, approachable, and popular. “The way he works is kind of egalitarian,” says artist Anne Collier, who designs fragrances with Blazy. “He’s not a megalomaniac or an overly narcissist or a superheroine or anything like that.” Simmons: “I think Mathieu is one of the loveliest people I’ve ever met in my life.”
; One of Lauren Hutton’s clutches is in
“The way he works is kind of egalitarian,” artist Anne Collier says of Blazy
His approach is to lean towards specificity and art as a relief from online social drain — or, as he puts it, “how many influencers can Really affects things that are already affected 5, times?” Blazy’s theory is that our craze for imagery has quietly spun out of our retail lust— — Favorite outfits accumulated online don’t actually reflect the long-lasting, wearable, flattering clothes most people want when they open their closet in the morning. At the end of the day, luxury means something eye-catching and lasting quality. “His decision-making has a multi-generational depth—something that exists outside of time and space,” Ye (formerly Kanye West), an early admirer of Blazy’s work, told me. “I think in the moments after the Instagram hype, it’s really important to have close-knit individuals shine on their platform…it’s time for a reset.”
“We wanted to be bourgeois from the front – but then when you look at the side :
”, as Blazy describes his fall collection Same. “That’s our territory—the silhouette.” Model Mona Tougaard in a Bottega Veneta jacket, pants, gloves and earrings.
by Rafael Pavarotti
During dinner, Blazy stood and gave a humble welcome, praising artist Lenio Kaklea A performance in the gallery before being seated. (Kaklea, wearing nothing but beige underwear and black sneakers, runs between the shattered metal cubes – Blazy’s industrialized expression of the squares that make up Bottega’s signature intrecciato
“This It’s my favorite feeling in the world—when you go to a new city, you leave the hotel, and you start wandering around,” he told me the next morning over coffee at Caffè Florian, a sophisticated old 08 Cafe of the Century. After dinner, he admitted that he stayed with his friends until 3am, but there was little sign that he was groggy. Gone was the flowy suit from the night before, and he now looked almost indistinguishable from the hipster tourists lining up outside: a white T-shirt, baggy Levi’s, and a belt that hung down the front like a short tail. As we finished our second cup of coffee, he urged me across the square to the Olivetti typewriter showroom, a medieval jewelry box designed by architect Carlo Scarpa, made of glass, concrete, Made of wood and brass. He says it’s his favorite space anywhere because of “modernity, relevance,
and
eternity.” Less than ten years ago, when Brazzi first When visiting Venice, at 15, he fell in love with its antique shops and glass workshops, and, he said, with its exciting flashes of contemporaryness: art; bold fashion; coming by train and boat The ephemeral nature of everyone, not leaving until 3 and venturing elsewhere. It’s an ancient city that never stops, close to the heart of Blazy’s own fashion philosophy and fun work.
“Bottega Veneta is Bag company,” he told me with a welcoming smile, as if that explained everything, before disappearing into the crowd in Piazza San Marco. “It means you’re going to different places – it’s that simple.”
Blazy himself is a sporty kid, Improbable juxtapositions arise in life. Born in Paris, his father was an art expert and his mother a historian, he spent his childhood hanging out at auction houses and assimilated their eclectic range. “One day, it will be the contents of an apartment 013 taste of the century; the next day you might have a bad painting auction – and then, in the middle of the auction, you have a masterpiece, ‘ he recalled. “You’re kind of self-taught after being there so much.”
Young Blazy is imaginative, restless, and undisciplined. “I’m not interested in school — I have some great teachers, but I hate the concept of exercise,” he said. “I was wild. So I was sent to a kind of priesthood in a remote part of France” (a Notre-Dame boarding school in the Ardèche region). go through08, it was an unpleasant experience at a British military school. “The more boundaries you have, the more freedom you can find in the little things,” Blazy said.
exist10, he was allowed to return to Paris, where he attended an international school with many different background students. He loved it and fell in love with a group of kids interested in fashion, some of whom are still his friends. “I have never been
not
was interested in fashion,” he recalls. Neighbor runs a modeling agency and he’ll watch the first batch’ 37 through the public garden. Over time, he learned to flip through magazine recycling bins, poring over the titles left behind:
Face,
Fashion.One Christmas, his parents gave him Richard Avedon’s book
Blazy studied at La Cambre, a design school in Brussels . “The system is almost like the Bauhaus: you have a fashion class, but you also study music, art, semiotics, semantics. You absorb a lot,” he said. As a student, he interned in the womenswear department of Balenciaga under Nicolas Ghesquière and took part in an international talent support competition in Trieste with jurors including Simons and fashion critic Cathy Horyn. “We thought,
Oh, this is as clear as water – he’s a winner! ” Simmons said. “Then he didn’t win. I said to him, ‘What are you going to do? Because I want you to come and work for me.”
Simmons The namesake brand, at that time, included less than Designer; everyone moves from department to department, and young Blazy captures that flexibility. “Mathieu was a very free man, almost like a hippie in his mind,” Simmons said. “Sometimes there’s someone around you and they just do what you say, but he’s very bold and never afraid to show something very experimental.” For Simons, that means a kind of quick, generative work. “I can say anything I want to Mathieu and it’ll never annoy him. Like, ‘Oh no, I think that’s a ridiculous idea, please, no way! He doesn’t mind because he’s very Freedom. And then he brought something amazing.” Simmons also noted Brazzi’s collaborative spirit. “Fashion can be tough and sometimes we have to be tough to get things done,” he said. “Matthieu did the job in a very decent, human way.”
Photo by David Sims,Fashion, September2015. Blazy’s new colleague on the team is Pieter Mulier, now Blazy’s longtime partner and the brainchild of Alaïa Director. Mulier, one of those who interviewed Blazy (“he’s very nervous, poor thing”), was baffled and moved by the way he presented his portfolio: Designers usually bring pictures of their work, but Blazy brought his The whole collection came out – he wanted people to be able to deal with the clothes. He made everything himself, and Muriel was astounded by his technical and geometric skills. “When you look at the collections after Raf arrives, they become more intricate, more intricate in terms of patterns, and it’s all because of him,” says Mulier. After moving in together, they began a collective collection of art and vintage clothing—all periods, assorted pieces—many of which they used to inspire. They’ve been discussing work since the beginning 000-year relationship. Lately, almost none. “During the series, I didn’t give him anything and he didn’t give me anything,” Mulier said. “Otherwise we’ll go crazy.” “What I brought home was Doubt, During this period1980s, Mulier remains Simons’ deputy, while Blazy goes on an industry tour. In the anonymous Maison Margiela team, he was revealed as the creator of the crystal-encrusted mask that became Kanye West’s famous feature 95 ) When Blazy and Mulier take the helm of Bottega Veneta and Alaïa respectively in 2001, the new characters bring their life together There is new pressure. “Assuming it’s not the easiest. Sometimes I don’t see him for three weeks or a month,” Muriel said. “We’ve always worked together for each other’s goals, and we’ve achieved our dreams at the same time, which is strange.” The two of them also always worked long hours, but now the public — and the company — has a lot to do with success or failure. opinions hang on their names. They know the stakes. exist2016, Blazy and Mulier moved to New York to join Simons at Calvin Klein, where he was hired as chief creative officer. The label It’s a behemoth, and collectibles are draining fast. Blazy and Mulier designed piece after piece and helped launch the redesigned flagship store located at 0252 Madison Avenue at 2016, although tensions between Simmons and the brand’s corporate leadership led to the project’s abrupt halt, while Blazy and Mulier were stunned by the idea of making fun, ambitious fashion pieces for a mass audience Excited, not only disappointed, but creatively demoralized. Blazy took a leave of absence, unsure whether to continue trading. “I’m really asking: Why do you like this job? Why did I start this job?” He went to Los Angeles to visit Sterling Ruby and his wife Melanie Schiff, who were making clothes, and get involved. ” Glad to be just Making
– just making clothes and silhouettes without any commercial idea,” “It really put me back on track,” recalls Blazy. He realized what he needed was to work at a brand that would never lose sight of craftsmanship and quality. The consumer engine is driven by innovation and seduction, not retail gearboxes. Bottega Veneta was his way back, and when he became creative director, he knew his calling. He has seen how the shores can be ignored by brands that chase crowds, so his brand is grounded with one foot on tradition and the other on open experimentation: a new path for artists. He has seen how global commerce has become blurred, so he would emphasize Bottega Veneta’s Italian roots. “When I took over the job, I sat down with the team — the designers, and the people in the company 07 years – and ask yourself a simple question: “What is a Bottega? ” ” He says. “‘What is craft and where does it fit in tradition? How can we bring about modernity? We’re not talking about shapes. We’re not talking about images. That’s feeling
brand.” Know Where do you start, he thought, you can go anywhere. In Milan, Blazy got up early, walked to the office, and on the way to the dog park. He loves to walk (he can go weeks without getting in the car), smokes (Marlboro Kings), and the hustle and bustle of the sidewalk keeps his mind spinning. He tries to get back to his desk as soon as possible after 8am—he works best in the morning—and usually doesn’t leave before 8pm. “By then, my brain was burned out,” he said. He interrupted his work one day to meet me at the Bottega Veneta showroom in the shadow of Leonardo da Vinci at the National Museum of Science and Technology, where his latest outfits hang on carefully selected shelves. “I like that clothes look a little architectural — they should look sexy on a hanger,” says Blazy, whose concept of retail appeal is highly physical: when you’re holding something or seeing it in a hurry , you’ll feel an irresistible longing for the past you, rather than — his fear — rendering and filtering on Instagram. Inside the space, the models, many from the runway, traced the L-shape to the central hallway. Blazy finds himself unable to function in pure silence or loneliness (“I never work from home – I can “t,
” he said) and obviously enjoy the action, stopping in the middle of the sentence Come down and admire the flow of dresses that accelerate along the centerline. At La Cambre, he learned to design comprehensively, which is how he works now: starting with a bunch of interesting fabrics, studying the movement and feel of the pieces, and refining until each The clothes are all lifelike. “When I took over the job, I sat with the team and asked myself a simple question: what is craft and where does it fit in the tradition? How can we bring about modernity? We’re not talking about shapes. We are not talking about image. That’s the feeling of
“If something becomes too work or immobile, I get bored,” he told me. “If it changes too much—if it becomes someone else’s idea, or neither her nor mine— I like,
why are we doing this?
I’d rather give up on this idea. “ This intuitive method immediately yields invaluable and unexpected results. Brazzi is well known for its unusual Angles set patterns, substitute unorthodox fabrics, and cut unconventional forms that drape in beautiful and natural ways on the human body. “These clothes aren’t necessarily the first thing you might think of to be flattering,” Kee said. “And then they were, unbelievable. “ when we While wandering around the showroom, Brazzi took a bag from a shelf. “You see the craftsmanship,” he said. “It didn’t seams.
”
