Bottega Veneta will kick off 2025 with not just a new creative director, but a female one: British designer Louise Trotter. She succeeds Matthieu Blazy — who nabbed the big job at Chanel, as announced this week — and will become one of the very few women leading a major luxury brand in fashion today.
Trotter will be Bottega’s third creative director since 2018, when former creative director Tomas Maier left the minimalist luxury brand, known for its leather craftsmanship and intrecciato bags, after 17 years. Blazy leaves Bottega at a high point, as the brand’s latest popular handbag lines, including the Andiamo and the Sardine, have kept sales growing during a year when many of its peers saw sales slide.
With Trotter, Bottega is getting an experienced creative director who spent the last two years at French heritage label Carven, which she helped revive after it was bought out of bankruptcy in 2018. Before Carven, she led design at Lacoste and the British label Joseph. Trotter has mid-market experience too: Earlier in her career, she worked at Gap, Calvin Klein, and Tommy Hilfiger in the U.S. and at Whistles and Jigsaw in the UK.
Trotter’s first collection for Bottega will be one of many highly anticipated debuts to watch in 2025, including Blazy at Chanel, Sarah Burton at Givenchy, and Veronica Leoni at Calvin Klein.
“As women, we love that excitement, but we all have a uniform,” Trotter told the FT earlier this year. “I like nothing more than to dress real women and see them feeling and looking good in my clothes, and the clothes being a service to their lives.”
Below, see runway images from Trotter’s most recent roles at Carven, Lacoste, and Joseph.
