For its 50th Anniversary in September, Bottega Veneta has combined its men’s and women’s catwalks to exhibit the brand’s spring 2017 ready to wear collections. On Monday, the Italian fashion brand declared that this amalgamation of a genderless runway will be its new standard, which is the first big announcement since the brand introduced its new CEO, Claus-Dietrich Lahrs in September.
Beginning in 2017, the label will set up only two seasonal shows per year, merging together its four existing men’s and women’s runway presentations, with the autumn/winter 17 collections to be showcased in February at Milan Fashion Week. The brand described it as “a natural evolution” to show innovation and keep up with its competitors. “Showing women and men together is quite an organic move for us. Tomas Maier’s [the brand’s creative director] vision is of Bottega Veneta as a lifestyle brand, built on both genders, and it has been like this for the last 15 years of his creative direction,” said chief executive Carlo Alberto Beratta to the Business of Fashion.
Besides Bottega Veneta, fellow Kering-owned designer label Gucci as well as Dsquared2 have already implemented the same approach for their fashion shows. Gucci presented its co-ed collections in April, while Dsquared2 will start merging its gender catwalks in 2017. For Dsquared2, this new implementation does not merely represent a more coherent representation of both collections, but also has a strategic reason as Dan Caten, co-founder and designer of the brand announced:
“We would like to give the women’s collection more time in the stores. By showing her earlier, we get her on the floor earlier.”
For Bottega Veneta, a combination of both collections is more important in regards to the beneficial impact on the production process, instead of focussing on rapidity, as the company published within its statement:
“The Bottega Veneta universe is built on both genders. As a consequence, showing both women and men together is an organic move that follows the evolution of Tomas Maier’s creative vision. The house remains, in any case, committed to a presentation timing and production launch that allows the period necessary to create a sophisticated handcrafted collection that conveys a dream even before it hits the boutiques.”
It seems as if there were many changes to be made when it comes to the evolution and transition of catwalk performances. We are excited to monitor how these will affect next year’s huge fashion shows!
Merken
