The Bottega Veneta Experiment: What Happens When Fashion Goes Offline?
A digital detox may be a popular New Year’s resolution, but it’s not so common for a luxury label to participate, which is why the fashion world was surprised to see that Bottega Veneta removed itself from all social media just a few days into 2021. Without any explanation or statement on when it may return, we’re left to speculate. For a brand as popular and sought-after as Bottega, helmed by British designer Daniel Lee, the move offline is strategic. Clearly, it’s already built a sense of anticipation for its next move, whether that happens digitally or otherwise. It’s also raised the question of whether other brands with follow suit.
Perhaps Bottega Veneta’s new social media strategy is a continuation of the secretive power it wielded over its Spring/Summer 2021 collection, which was first unveiled to a small audience at several intimate, socially distanced shows in London in October 2020. The collection wasn’t made public until December and managed to stay private until then, as no phones were allowed at the presentations to avoid any risk of images leaking.
Connectivity has been a big theme amidst the coronavirus, and one that many designers have opened through digital channels, live streaming shows, hosting Q&As, creating video games, and reaching audiences through social media. Even Paris' Haute Couture Fashion Week, fashion's most exclusive, time-honored event, will be live streamed next week. Lee, however, wants to stick to more analog means of connection. In a December 2020 interview with Cultured Magazine, the designer said of current times, “It’s a moment to be incredibly personal, to think smaller and more meaningfully, to be more human and tactile. I didn’t think much of the digital presentations.” So he refrained from joining the numerous high fashion names that brought runway shows into anyone’s home through the screen, and instead presented a private show that was experienced personally by a lucky few.
As for connecting with the rest of Bottega Veneta’s audience, the secret runway and digital unplugging points to a more curated approach to its public interaction. In a world over-saturated with content, taking its presence out of the equation (and being noticed and missed for it) allows the brand to control the narrative. It also brings back the sense of exclusivity that comes with a traditional runway season and the hierarchy of luxury fashion, where fashion insiders—editors, buyers, influencers, and the like—are the first to see the new collections, which are then shared with a larger audience. In the same vein, going off the grid fosters what GQ calls stealth luxury, where the brand will rely on word of mouth alone. This allows for more organic connections to be made—instead of Bottega Veneta’s Instagram account choosing the hero pieces of the season, news will travel about the styles that resonate with its audience instead.
According to a Forbes survey, luxury companies are seeing little success when it comes to translating social media followings into actual sales. This leaves brands with the choice of quantity versus quality—do they want to put resources towards building social media followings for a presence and relevancy in the digital space, or would they rather go offline and put capital into fostering its relationships with clients with spending power. It seems that Bottega’s digital detox could be an experiment in this—last October, the company posed a job listing for a global social media manager.
The decision to go offline also stands out as other luxury players attempt to grow their audience on TikTok, specifically reaching for Gen Z’s attention. Dior, Gucci, Prada, Saint Laurent, and Celine are on the video-sharing app and have recognized the influence of young TikTok stars. Prada invited 16-year-old Charli D’Amelio, who has the app’s largest following of over 106 million, to its Fall/Winter 2020 show, and Celine’s Hedi Slimane tapped influencer Noen Eubanks for a campaign.
Celine has especially reached out to the Internet generation, creating a Spring/Summer 2021 men’s collection centered around e-boy style and following up with a women’s show that likewise caters to a viral wardrobe with dad hats, bike shorts, and luxury athleisure. Beyond its disparate social media strategy, Bottega Veneta’s Spring/Summer 2021 collection is a foil to Celine—instead of wanting to double tap it on a screen, Lee’s tactile designs beg to be touched. Chunky knits, wooden beading, and other homespun craft details speak to the brand’s desire to live offline. These are clothes for experiencing in person, not simulating online.
As designers continue to navigate phygital fashion weeks and the industry faces ongoing challenges from the pandemic, we can expect other luxury brands to reevaluate how they are connecting with their audience and how social media serves them. After all, the way users are interacting with social media is changing—for individuals, a more relaxed and spontaneous approach took over in 2020. Instead of feeling the pressure of curating a perfected Instagram feed, everyone (celebrities included) began photo dumping, offering up thirst traps, B-roll pictures, and selfies that would have normally gone unseen. These relatable moments left little room for high fashion labels, which are defined by their curation and aspirational luxury, to feel present and connected. Instead of competing with this, Bottega Veneta preserved itself by going dark. It may have been the first luxury brand to sign off, but it probably won’t be the last.
