Bottega Veneta vanishes from social media

By

Dominique Muret

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Jan 8, 2021

In our uber-digital times, Bottega Veneta has opted to shroud itself in secrecy. On Tuesday January 5, the Italian label owned by luxury group Kering has deactivated all its social media accounts, from Twitter to Facebook and even Instagram, where it had 2.5 million followers. Contacted by FashionNetwork.com, Bottega Veneta has declined to comment on this decision.

 
The decision may come as a surprise, at a time when online fashion sales, often driven by social media, are booming. And when the concept of a label's community of followers, with whom to engage in constant conversation, is becoming increasingly central, boosted by the lockdowns.
 
On the other hand, the radical gesture of distancing itself from the digital brouhaha fits hand in glove with the image Bottega Veneta has always cultivated as an ultra-select yet understated luxe label. A philosophy that is also quite consistent with the inclination of Daniel Lee, in charge of the label’s style since 2018, a designer who has always shunned the limelight.

In Q2 2019, when Bottega Veneta became one of the top 20 most popular fashion brands on the Lyst index, recently hired Marketing Director Dario Gargiulo told the fashion search engine: “Above all, our focus is on the beauty and sophistication of subtlety. We avoid providing detailed explanations about our label in order to be present and visible in the contemporary cultural landscape.”
 
In the same vein, and given the health protection measures still in place, Lee, whose studio is located in London, chose the British capital to present his latest collection, for the Spring/Summer 2021. The show was staged in October 2020, with only a handful of guests, and the collection was unveiled on the web only two months later.
 
Notably, Bottega Veneta’s social media vanishing act has occurred in parallel with a restructuring of the label's communication department. Caroline Deroche Pasquier, formerly with Stella McCartney, joined Bottega Veneta last October to take charge of global communications, replacing Yannick Angelloz-Nicoud.

Earlier last year, Thierry Conrad Reutenauer, formerly with Chloé, joined Bottega Veneta as head of public relations and communications and, until recently, according to a job advert by Kering, the label was looking for an international social media manager.