BVettes: Are YOU Staying, Watching and Waiting or Leaving BV under CD Daniel Lee?

[TotinScience]

My horse in this race is very small and timid, as I am a relative BV newcomer with financial prowess limited strictly to pre-owned market. With that being said, I am not a fan of the new direction at all. A few things are cool - the cassette bag is fun and some RTW jackets are beautiful, for example. However, I find the giant Cabat and the Pouch to be hideous (no offense to anyone who likes them!), and weird rectangular bags look like Celine B-sides to me, with no spirit of the classic BV look. I am not against innovation at all, but I agree with everyone who mentioned the importance of maintaining the essence of the original house, no matter how deconstructed it may be. The fact that there are no Venetas available anyone (at least online) seems like a massive misstep - would Chanel ever stop selling their Flap bags and Hermes Birkins and Kellys in the effort to chase after influencers?
I suppose at least it's great for my financial health - in the past, I would scroll through the BV site and gasp at the beauty and elegance of colors and leather pieces that I knew I could never afford until well after they hit pre-owned market. As BV is literally the only high end brand I ever liked, for now that very dangerous hobby is put to rest .

 

[Gourmetgal]

Good point regarding the iconic bags at Chanel and Hermes. The current direction of BV defies logic. BTW, I totally agree with your opinion of the pouch. Especially the big one...so silly.

 

[Doncaster42]

I completely agree. I feel almost estranged from the BV brand that I once wholly adored. And inexplicably, I have started re-homing rather than retaining my treasured TM BVs. I can't explain it, but I'm echoing what so many of you have said before, DL's new direction has alienated a once-loyal customer base.

 

[papertiger]

I completely agree. I feel almost estranged from the BV brand that I once wholly adored. And inexplicably, I have started re-homing rather than retaining my treasured TM BVs. I can't explain it, but I'm echoing what so many of you have said before, DL's new direction has alienated a once-loyal customer base.

Gosh, that's a statement

 

[Love Of My Life]

Gosh, that's a statement

IMO, that's exactly what BV should be listening to & wanting to hold on to... Loyal Customers

 

[Juda]

I completely agree. I feel almost estranged from the BV brand that I once wholly adored. And inexplicably, I have started re-homing rather than retaining my treasured TM BVs. I can't explain it, but I'm echoing what so many of you have said before, DL's new direction has alienated a once-loyal customer base.

My exact same feeling. I thought I was overreacting.
Glad to know I'm not the only one feeling this way.

 

[bagnut1]

My exact same feeling. I thought I was overreacting.
Glad to know I'm not the only one feeling this way.

Nope, not overreacting.

Someone mentioned no more Venetas - I looked on BV.com and was shocked to find no hobos. There is almost zero connection to the collection as I recall it was just 12 months ago. What is there, as others have said, looks so much more like Celine a couple of years ago. (And at least Celine is still making Philo's recent classics alongside the new stuff.)

I came to BV after admiring from afar just as Lee was about to ruin it. I will keep wearing my City Venetas because, IMO, they are classics and they fit my current requirements beautifully. But I won't buy another BV until he is gone, for sure. There was no need to burn the house down for his highly derivative designs. Even crazy LV still makes many bags from before the long-gone Marc Jacobs era.

"Creative Director" my eye. More Like Creative Lemming.

 

[papertiger]

Nope, not overreacting.

Someone mentioned no more Venetas - I looked on BV.com and was shocked to find no hobos. There is almost zero connection to the collection as I recall it was just 12 months ago. What is there, as others have said, looks so much more like Celine a couple of years ago. (And at least Celine is still making Philo's recent classics alongside the new stuff.)

I came to BV after admiring from afar just as Lee was about to ruin it. I will keep wearing my City Venetas because, IMO, they are classics and they fit my current requirements beautifully. But I won't buy another BV until he is gone, for sure. There was no need to burn the house down for his highly derivative designs. Even crazy LV still makes many bags from before the long-gone Marc Jacobs era.

"Creative Director" my eye. More Like Creative Lemming.

When I think of BV I think hobos, they have always had the best hobos. Big mistake of Lee, no one should get rid of a brand's core identity

 

[indiaink]

I completely agree. I feel almost estranged from the BV brand that I once wholly adored. And inexplicably, I have started re-homing rather than retaining my treasured TM BVs. I can't explain it, but I'm echoing what so many of you have said before, DL's new direction has alienated a once-loyal customer base.

I think it's because we're feeling massively wounded and heartbroken. TM spent many years working with Bottega Veneta as an art, as a way of life, as a generations-old way of making beautiful things. He promoted the school, the artisans, made us all fall in love, and now we find that without him, it never was. We believed in a fantasy, and that hurts.

 

[Love Of My Life]

I think it's because we're feeling massively wounded and heartbroken. TM spent many years working with Bottega Veneta as an art, as a way of life, as a generations-old way of making beautiful things. He promoted the school, the artisans, made us all fall in love, and now we find that without him, it never was. We believed in a fantasy, and that hurts.

+1..
BV when your own initials are enough.. Seems like a far cry from that now
Personally think that the new larger woven leather doesn't have the same distinctiveness
that it hand under TM....but this is about money & building what BV thinks will be a
new customer base for a long time.. not thinking it will happen..
The client they are attracting is for the moment not longevity

 

[V0N1B2]

The client they are attracting is for the moment not longevity

This is so obvious, judging by the number of #newbottega bags on the secondary market. There are so many Pouches with descriptions stating they’ve been carried 3-4 times. So if these bags were given to “influencers” and/or bloggers and they’re already finished with them after being photographed at Fashion Week, what does this say about the longevity of the style and the customer base they’re trying to attract? ‘Cause you know what? All the Instagram Influencer Clones (let’s face it, they all look the same - skinny, blonde, big fake lips, stupid pose looking at the ground) will be carrying something else come next season’s Fashion Week.

I haven’t done anything extreme like @Doncaster42 and sell off my TM-era bags, but I am in the process of a significant edit and only keeping what I actually “need”, but I really don’t see myself adding anything new in the foreseeable future. I am in a wait-and-see holding pattern, but I don’t think DL will design anything that will make me want to rush out and buy.

*and I agree about the larger weave. It’s going to gape once the bag is broken in. There’s a reason BV has made the fettuce 1cm wide for the past 50 years - it (I’m sure) was chosen to be the most durable.

 

[diane278]

I suspect that I’ll be doing more editing of my BV collection at some point. But I’m coming to the conclusion that I simply don’t need all the bags I have. If Tomas were still at the helm, I’m not sure I would be feeling this way. I think I may be mourning the past......

 

[blueiris]

Someone mentioned no more Venetas - I looked on BV.com and was shocked to find no hobos. There is almost zero connection to the collection as I recall it was just 12 months ago. What is there, as others have said, looks so much more like Celine a couple of years ago. (And at least Celine is still making Philo's recent classics alongside the new stuff.)

I sorely miss seeing the Venetas, both online and at the boutique. It's the namesake, so it's just bizarre to me that it has disappeared from view. I loved seeing the new colors and special treatments every season.

Well, I'm going to hang onto and continue carrying mine! I love a good shoulder bag, and the Veneta was everything I ever wanted: elegant and minimalist all-in one design (no visible hardware), sleek shape that both draped with ease and expanded for contents, lightweight and super-comfortable on the shoulder, top zipper for security.

The 1cm intrecciato is a quiet signature that I enjoy seeing carried on with the Knots and Cabats. I remember when I bought one of my first BVs in 2008, I remember being so appreciative of the artisans' leather work. I actually said out loud, "Someone in Italy made this!" And I loved knowing that an artisan had worked for days to double-weave my Cabats. For some reason, some of the new designs have more of a mass-produced look about them to me, even if they're not. I can't really explain it.

 

[papertiger]

This is so obvious, judging by the number of #newbottega bags on the secondary market. There are so many Pouches with descriptions stating they’ve been carried 3-4 times. So if these bags were given to “influencers” and/or bloggers and they’re already finished with them after being photographed at Fashion Week, what does this say about the longevity of the style and the customer base they’re trying to attract? ‘Cause you know what? All the Instagram Influencer Clones (let’s face it, they all look the same - skinny, blonde, big fake lips, stupid pose looking at the ground) will be carrying something else come next season’s Fashion Week.

I haven’t done anything extreme like @Doncaster42 and sell off my TM-era bags, but I am in the process of a significant edit and only keeping what I actually “need”, but I really don’t see myself adding anything new in the foreseeable future. I am in a wait-and-see holding pattern, but I don’t think DL will design anything that will make me want to rush out and buy.

*and I agree about the larger weave. It’s going to gape once the bag is broken in. There’s a reason BV has made the fettuce 1cm wide for the past 50 years - it (I’m sure) was chosen to be the most durable.

Good point

 

[ksuromax]

....
*and I agree about the larger weave. It’s going to gape once the bag is broken in. There’s a reason BV has made the fettuce 1cm wide for the past 50 years - it (I’m sure) was chosen to be the most durable.

besides, the smaller/narrow strips will hold tighter and keep the shape better, no matter how old the bag is the weave will still be tight and not get loose, floppy and sagged.