Bottega Veneta’s former creative director: Tomas Maier

Following the departure of Tomas Maier, Bottega Veneta has appointed Daniel Lee, most recent director of ready-to-wear design at Céline as their new creative director. Lee will officially join the company on July 1st, succeeding Maier who stepped down from the helm of the Italian label last week, after 17 years as creative director.

Daniel Lee, Bottega Veneta’s New Creative Director: A Primer

Enter Lee, alumnus of Phoebe Philo, who was the mastermind behind Céline’s intellectual designs featuring minimalist nuances that possess similar design language to Tomas Maier’s own understated elegance. As the ready-to-wear collections at Céline unfolded with Lee’s design language, Céline became relatable on many levels, not underdressed or overdone. Céline’s collections began speaking to the audience on an intuitive wavelength, hence, making Daniel Lee Bottega’s natural successor to the evolution of the modern classic style, with notions that he could perpetuate the maximalist yet minimalist non-monogrammed luxury DNA for which Bottega Veneta became lauded for. That said, Daniel Lee’s Bottega will not be “same old same old” even if he does share similar creative vision for the brand, he has his own perspectives for his tenure at Bottega Veneta’s new Creative Director, in a statement he said, “I look forward to evolving what has gone before, while contributing a new perspective and modernity”.

“He will bring to Bottega Veneta a new and distinctive creative language that will continue building the House’s success based on the ambitious foundations already developed over recent years.”

The 32-year-old was a graduate of Central Saint Martins in 2011 and is experienced beyond most designers his age. He has previously held roles at Maison Margiela, Balenciaga and Donna Karan before going under the wings of Philo at Céline in 2012.

To welcome Lee, Claus Dietrich Lahrs, CEO of Bottega Veneta said in his own words, “Daniel Lee has a deep understanding of the House’s current challenges both in terms of creation and development. He will bring to Bottega Veneta a new and distinctive creative language that will continue building the House’s success based on the ambitious foundations already developed over recent years.”

Bottega Veneta SS18 campaign

Right up till now, Lee has maintained a low profile as a designer, which can be seen as one of Kering’s traditions for shrewdly making quiet appointments for creative director positions. Case in point, Alessandro Michele, a relative unknown outside design circles before he thrust Gucci and himself into the limelight, becoming the hottest commercially and critically acclaimed designer since Tom Ford, bringing in an approximated global revenue of 6.2 billion euros in 2017, accounting for over half of Kering Group’s overall revenue – a number Bottega aims to match in time after the reshuffling of positions.

“The singularity of Lee’s vision, inspired by a very personal creative approach, convinced me that he was best able to open a new chapter in the history of the House.”

Despite his lesser-known background (for now), the expectations for his first collection in September will be in no way discounted as Kering’s chief executive and chairman François-Henri Pinault said “The singularity of Lee’s vision, inspired by a very personal creative approach, convinced me that he was best able to open a new chapter in the history of the House. His work is characterised by great rigour, a mastery of studio expertise, a true passion for materials and an energy that I cannot wait to see take shape at Bottega Veneta,” we look forward to Lee’s aesthetic coupled with the Italian leather style Bottega is known for.