Louise Trotter Debuts at Bottega Veneta With Fringe-Fueled Craft and Sculptural Forms

MILAN — Louise Trotter’s debut as creative director at Bottega Veneta on Saturday highlighted moments of fantasy, with fringe detailing that bounced on coats and swirled along skirts and jackets. The collection arrived as Milan Fashion Week emphasizes the arrival of new creative voices, and Trotter’s first showing for the house signaled a deliberate focus on the tension between craft and sculptural form. The pieces ranged from pared-back, navy outerwear to more exuberant, fringed silhouettes, signaling a dialogue with Bottega Veneta’s storied codes while pushing into a contemporary sense of movement and volume.

Trotter, who took the helm at Bottega Veneta in January, is among four creative directors making hotly anticipated debuts in Milan this season, following Demna at Gucci, Simone Bellotti at Jil Sander and Dario Vitale at Versace. The Italian house is famed for its craftsmanship, and Trotter said the atelier’s skilled hands were a wellspring of inspiration for her Spring-Summer 2026 collection. She described the experience as an extraordinary entrance into the house and a revelation of its crafts, with an emphasis on the willingness to try new ideas. The Veneto atelier, where leather and textile specialists work with piles of material at their feet, informed both the volume and the technical detailing throughout the line. Some looks were designed to skim the body at the bust, waist and hip while remaining sculptural and detached from the body, creating a dialogue between movement and structure.

The collection wove together Bottega Veneta’s signature intreccio weave and the knot motif, reimagining leather, wool, and satin into coats, trousers and bags. The intreccio coding appeared as structural coats and tailored trousers, while the knot defined bags and slip-on shoes. Large, soft bags paid homage to the house’s archives from 1966 to 1977, a period Trotter discovered during her research as a touchstone for a functionality that complemented the era’s liberation of women. The show toured a range of silhouettes—from a functional navy peacoat with knotted leather detailing that opened the presentation to layered, white fringe pieces paired with a soft popcorn knit collar—embracing movement without surrendering line or form. The overall mood married a sense of utility with fantasy, a juxtaposition that has long defined the Bottega Veneta lexicon and that Trotter said she wanted to preserve while letting it breathe anew.

This staged conversation about the journey of Bottega Veneta, rather than merely a collection, was a central aim for Trotter. She described the show as a reflection of the life of Bottega Veneta, and she emphasized wanting to treat the house as a living entity—worthy of empathy and ongoing development. The emphasis on craft and the hands of artisans underscored a broader narrative about heritage within a modern, legible silhouette. In keeping with the season’s broader mood, the collection balanced reverence for the house’s codes with a sense of discovery, inviting wearers to feel the tactile quality of materials and the way they move with the body.

Meanwhile, access to the presentation was tightly controlled: the show was strictly limited to invited guests. Outside, a crowd of lively K-pop fans waited in hopes of glimpsing RM, the leader of BTS, illustrating how Milan Fashion Week continues to attract a global audience that blends high fashion with popular culture. The scene outside provided a counterpoint to the exclusive interior, illustrating fashion’s widening appeal and the public’s appetite for spectacle alongside craft.

Trotter’s debut at Bottega Veneta arrives amid a moment of replenished energy around craft-focused luxury and the value of artisanal skill in an increasingly digital fashion landscape. By centering the hands that cut, stitch and assemble, she positioned the collection as a living, evolving narrative of the house—one that honors its archives while inviting new interpretations. The fringe-driven drama and the sculptural use of leather and fabric demonstrate a willingness to push the brand’s aesthetic forward without discarding its core identity. In doing so, the show reinforced the idea that Bottega Veneta remains defined not by a single trend, but by the harmony of meticulous technique and expressive form, a balance that Trotter has indicated she intends to maintain as she leads the house into the Spring-Summer 2026 season and beyond.