BOTTEGA VENETA DEBUTS 50TH ANNIVERSARY CAMPAIGN

Bottega Veneta Summer 2017
by Stephen Garner

Bottega Veneta Summer 2017Italian luxury brand Bottega Veneta has debuted its summer 2017 collection and campaign, which helps celebrate the brand’s 50th anniversary, as well as the 15th year of Tomas Maier as its creative director.

The new “Art of Collaboration” campaign features legendary actress Lauren Hutton, alongside models Joan Smalls, Vittoria Ceretti, Hannes Gobeyn and Morten Nielsen.

Shot by famed American photographer Todd Hido in a building designed by celebrated late architect Paul Rudolph (1918-1997) named the Modulightor Building – also known as the building of light – the space compliments the intricacies of the brand’s latest collection. The iconic structure features interwoven horizontal and vertical spaces with a combination of large and small windows along the façade to create a distinct and surprising sense of airiness, depth and dimension in a relatively small space.

Bottega Veneta Summer 2017For the campaign, a special collection of bags comprised of new styles combined with items from the archive, was presented along with the iconic intrecciato clutch worn by Lauren Hutton in the 1980’s movie American Gigolo, which she carried in the show – tiled “The Lauren, 1980.” In the campaign Hutton and Smalls are carrying a new bag – titled “The City Knot.”

The Art of Collaboration was introduced by Maier after he joined Bottega Veneta as creative director in 2001. The ongoing project invites world-renowned visual artists to collaborate on the campaign for each season. Hido has joined this list of celebrated photographers, which includes Ryan Mcginley, Nobuyoshi Araki, Nan Goldin, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Pieter Hugo, Peter Lindbergh and Juergen Teller, who have contributed to the creation of Bottega Veneta’s advertising portfolio.

View behind the scenes footage from the making of the campaign below.