Milan Fashion Week: Bottega Veneta Spring 2011

For those of us who always seem to be running five minutes late, the scene at the Bottega Veneta Spring 2011 RTW show may have been a little familiar. As the soundtrack began playing traffic and construction noises, models emerged with flat shoes perfect for pounding the pavement and with damp, towel-tousled hair. While other designers strive to create a look of effortless sophistication—an everyday elegance we wish we had, Tomas Maier has succeeded in mirroring our reality with a collection focused exclusively on pragmatism and ease.

The presence of floral prints and bright colors synonymous with spring were nowhere to be found at Bottega Veneta; instead, the show began with a set of loosely fitted little black dresses, worn with simple black sandals and black intrecciato bags. The dresses gave way to slouchy, rumpled silk monochromatic suit separates, which had an air of fluidity to them also present in the floor-length, color-blocked dresses. The finale pieces were constructed with a weightless, cream colored silk, and while they were certainly beautiful, they were not the ornate gowns one might expect to see on the runway.

It is easy to envision Maier’s inspiration of the modern, “real” woman wearing anything from the collection – with the exception, perhaps, of the dresses adorned with feathers or the angular, geometric printed pieces. Often it feels like there is something lost when designers appeal to reality instead of some transcendental vision, but instead Maier shows us the beauty in the real. With the Bottega Veneta Spring 2011 collection, practical is not a compromise between art and life.

Photo Source: Elle.com