Matthieu Blazy’s First Bottega Veneta It-Bag Is Right here

Brand: Bottega Veneta

Season: Fall/Winter 2022

Model: Kalimero

Buy: Online at Bottega Veneta’s website

A new Bottega Veneta bag is poised to dethrone the Pouch, the soft-sided clutch that helped former creative director Daniel Lee propel the Italian brand to renewed relevance circa 2020.

Meet the Kalimero, a shoulder bag set to break the Pouch’s winning streak.

Unveiled at Bottega’s Fall/Winter 2022 runway show, the bag is one of Matthieu Blazy‘s first accessories for the house, where he climbed from design director to creative director after Lee unexpectedly departed in November 2021.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cg14BCCsbSw/?hl=en

Seeded to celebrities-slash-style-heavyweights Chloë Sevigny, Julianne Moore, and Dua Lipa, the Kalimero is ushering us from Lee’s #NewBottega to Blazy’s #NewNewBottega, already a success judging from reaction to his FW22 debut.

Establishing Blazy’s vision for the house, the Kalimero is a huge departure from the Pouch — with a four-sided structure and sliding strap, it can be slung across the shoulder as a sort of mono-strapped backpack or worn as a traditional shoulder bag. The strap can even be un-looped, transforming it into a dangling pouch.

JULIANNE MOORE IN VENICE

Julianne Moore was spotted in Venice with husband Bart Freundlich wearing creative director
Matthieu’s Blazy’s first bag for Bottega Veneta – the Kalimero – along with
sunglasses from the Winter 2022 show.#bottegaveneta @newbottega pic.twitter.com/BF2rzEgNiU

— Numero Thailand (@Numero_TH) April 22, 2022

The Kalimero also introduces a new version of of Bottega’s famous Intrecciato weaving technique. Instead of precisely square and tight-woven, Blazy’s technique employs thicker strand of leather that are braided in a more free-form fashion.

Another point of differentiation: the price. At $7,500, the bag is significantly more expensive than Bottega’s other popular silhouettes, such as the Jodie ($3,200) and the Padded Cassette ($3,900). (For reference, the Pouch retails for around $3,400.)

Buckle up: Blazy’s brave new Bottega is here.

Source: Highsnobiety