Who is Matthieu Blazy of Bottega Veneta?
The Paris-born designer succeeds Daniel Lee at the luxury fashion brand
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It took a little over five days since the announcement of Daniel Lee leaving Bottega Veneta for the brand to confirm its newest creative director. Just like fellow Kering-owned luxury fashion house Gucci, the appointment came from inside the brand.
Matthieu Blazy may be a relative unknown (just like Lee was) but within the fashion circuit, he’s managed to make a name for himself based on his talent as a designer. Here’s all there is to know about Blazy as seen on his Instagram feed.
Blazy started out at Raf Simons
After graduating from La Cambre — a famed art school also attended by Saint Laurent’s Anthony Vaccarello — Blazy’s career in fashion began with Raf Simons at the noted designer’s eponymous label. He was the men’s designer for the brand and that working relationship between the two would lead him to working with Simons later again in Blazy’s career.
He made waves during his time at Maison Martin Margiela
Blazy was still relatively unknown until he made his move to Maison Martin Margiela. While the brand was known for keeping the anonymity of its design team (an air of mystery that began with its founder), fashion critic Suzy Menkes outed Blazy as Maison Martin Margiela’s head designer of its Artisanal collection. In her Vogue review of the collection in 2014, Menkes wrote: “An exceptional collection at Maison Martin Margiela brought the designer Matthieu Blazy out of the shadows. It is understandable that Renzo Rosso, whose company Only The Brave is behind Margiela, should want to keep Blazy backstage — especially since the founding designer so rarely showed his face. But you can’t keep such a talent under wraps.”
Céline under Phoebe Philo
Shortly after, Blazy joined Céline as its senior designer under Phoebe Philo. It’s here that he worked together with Lee for two years.
Reuniting with Raf Simons
In 2016, Blazy reunited with Simons during his stint at Calvin Klein. He took on the role of VP of design for womenswear and menswear until 2019, working closely with Simons.
His partner is Pieter Mulier
Throughout his time working with Simons, Blazy was also in close contact with Pieter Mulier — a former Simons deputy who’s now better known as the creative director of Alaïa. As his posts on Instagram show, the pair have been close ever since and remains to be so with both congratulating each other for their respective milestones.
Bottega Veneta hired him in 2020
After a brief stint at S.R. Studio. LA. CA. by Sterling Ruby, Blazy moved on to Bottega Veneta as the brand’s ready-to-wear design director. It was here that he was reunited with Céline-alum Lee, helping to materialise the latter’s contemporary vision into reality.
Though it may seem like Blazy is cut from the same cloth as Lee — especially with the same background of designing under Phoebe Philo — his own creative voice may very well differ from what Bottega Veneta has evolved to be. Perhaps, it may be an overhaul once again. But in any case, we’ll get to see Blazy’s vision for the brand in February 2022.
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