Bottega Veneta has made bags out of recycled paper and I’m obsessed
IMAGES VIA VOGUE
Words by Helena Bammant
The luxury lunch bag.
From mid-calf combat boots to pillow bags, Bottega Veneta is having a bit of a moment right now. The accessories label, taken over by former Celine designer Daniel Lee in 2018, has returned with a new coolness we can’t get enough of.
Bottega’s social media presence has gone full hype mode – think the delicate flat lays of the iconic padded bags and leg shots of the BV Lido sandals which consumed our Instagram feeds late last year. Since then, the brand has become synonymous with modern leather accessories in avant-garde shapes, and it’s hard to deny their desirability (even with the exxy price tag).
It was these designs that propelled Bottega into Lyst’s ranking of the top 20 hottest fashion brands for 2019 (the free PR influencers provided for the brand probably helped too). This year for the Pre Fall ’20 collection, Lee has supplied us with yet another assortment of handbags, only this time they’re slightly more peculiar than the last lot and have been reimagined in an enviro-friendly paper fabric.
The new ‘kraft’ paper looks and feels exactly like a lunch bag and is made from recycled corrugated cardboard. Among the new styles is an evolution of the Pouch bag (previously nicknamed the ‘dumpling’ or ‘cloud’ bag) which now looks like a giant croissant, and the BV Twist bags – however, these look quite normal.
The kraft paper is 100 per cent recycled and FSC certified (another fancy way to say it’s trying to be environmentally conscious). The raw material is protected and made waterproof with polyurethane film and microfibre fabric, and somewhat surprisingly, it apparently feels ‘soft and smooth’.
This isn’t the first time Bottega has gone down the sustainable route. Earlier this year the label sent bio-degradable boots made of sugarcane and coffee down the runway, resembling a mix of Dutch clogs, Crocs, and wellies. It’s always a pleasant surprise to see sustainable goods coming into the luxury market, even if they do look a bit ridiculous.
The new Bottega Veneta Kraft paper bags are launching late June. Hopefully, this focus on sustainability is here to stay for Bottega.
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