What Women Want: Bottega Veneta Spring 2020

Daniel Lee has again successfully resurrected the woman Phoebe Philo once dressed at Celine with his Spring 2020 collection for Bottega Veneta. Confident and effortlessly attired, this woman is not beholden to trends (though she certainly sets them, as she has for Fall with Bottega's pouch tucked under her arm and its square-toed strappy sandals on her feet); she is the woman other women dress for, and long may she reign!

Lee's Spring lineup is minimalist but nuanced. He doesn't just give us knit dresses or denim, or even shirt dresses; the draping and the proportions are executed with precision. The appearance and the effect is nonchalant, but the work isn't. Again, it's the details other women notice, the architecture of each piece — how a leather hoodie unzips with an asymmetrical neckline, poised to show a sliver of skin at the shoulder and a gold chain necklace. For the customer who's become a cult fan of the label's accessories, Daniel delivers with another iteration of the bags and shoes which have catapulted the brand to its street style fame. I'd imagine the chatter after the show was obsessively fixated on next season's woven mules, pumps, and leather clutches and chain-link strapped bags and necklaces as if the guests were willing them to appear in their own closets.

The palette is an exercise in cool restraint. While many designers have filled their runways with a wash of Spring color, Daniel's is decidedly neutral with a few strategic, bright pops of poppy red, brilliant Kelly green, and serene-but-peppy pastel blue. There's even a hint of animal print on a pair of glove pumps, as if casually added in the same way a stylish woman might tweak an outfit she knows and loves when she wants to mix things up. Even if thoughtful, Daniel's looks are never overwrought. Contemporary and cool, he's created another wardrobe for the woman who knows exactly what she wants, and not unlike this season, she'll want this new Bottega for Spring, too.