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"Oh, the nobility of being a woman! One who is dressed spiffily in a tweed coat, swaddled in knits, stepping out in trousers, or swaying sensually on high heels with bars of three thin straps. After a spell of sporty clothes at Bottega Veneta, designer Tomas Maier took a different route: a celebration of womanhood. It was neither \u201Cout there\u201D nor timid, but just right. \u201CI wanted it to be sensual,\u201D said Tomas, who opened the show with plain, mannish trouser suits and ended it with brassieres built into soft dresses. From masculine to feminine, with the pendulum of the show falling exactly right with its leopard-print calfskin coat or gilded lamb trench. The concept was to soften firm lines, mostly by using variations of wool, until what might have been solid clothes melted over the body \u2013 never with obvious sexuality, but with a certain tenderness. Then there were the colours: plain and creamy; then brick followed by wine and violet. There were patterns that even shocked, as in a burning orange skirt named \u201CVesuvius\u201D, after the fiery volcano. Tomas repeated the world \u201Csensual\u201D three times backstage, almost as if he had surprised himself with the gentleness in his collection. He also talked about knitting, explaining how it was working with wool that had made the collection look, and no doubt feel, different. Various pieces in the collection seem to have been deliberately re- thought, like the subtle shrinking of Bottega\u2019s much-loved handbags, which had decreased in size. Tomas Maier has been at Bottega since 2001, during which time he has built up as far more than a brand of artisanal woven handbags. But I wondered if in this show he was reminding us of his nine previous years at Herm\u00E8s. There was something of that spirit in this collection: the finest materials, the subtlety, the elegant discretion. Of course, like any fine designer, Maier has experimented during his time at Bottega. I remember especially the featherlight, vividly coloured nylon dresses that even appeared on the red carpet. It was a surprise, even a shock; yet in fashion, change is good. But at a time of turmoil in the industry \u2013 not to mention the entire world \u2013 a voice of sophisticated calm at this Bottega show is so right for now."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.vogue.it/suzy-menkes/2016/02/28/suzymfw-bottega-veneta-volcanic-eruption-of-calm/>