CRAFTING THE FUTURE

Luxury brands are carving out pathways for the next generation of makers to keep artisanal traditions alive—and push them forward.

Speaking backstage just after he wrapped his Spring 2024 show in Milan this past September, Bottega Veneta creative director Matthieu Blazy waxed enthusiastically about craft. His collection was a showcase for the Italian house’s tradition of handwork and tailoring, punctuated by pieces like a crochet dress decorated with raffia pompoms individually knotted to its surface. The accessories featured leather-crafting techniques such as Bottega Veneta’s signature Intrecciato weave, but with updates like reversible textured strips of leather that mimicked banana leaves on bags and sandals. “Those are very small details, but for us they’re meaningful,” Blazy later explained. “It’s about saying, ‘Where can we push savoir-faire? And how do we try to innovate?’ Where people call craft ‘dusty,’ I think it’s the opposite. It’s a world of possibilities.”

There’s something magical about putting on a garment or an accessory that has been touched by a human hand. It gives life to the piece and awakens something in the wearer: a hyperawareness of the care and attention that went into creating it.

Craft was at the heart of a number of spring collections, from the patchworked and distressed leather at Prada to the reconstructions of upcycled garments at Balenciaga, exaggerated embellishments at Loewe, and baroque lace patterns at Valentino. Meanwhile, Tod’s staged its show at the Laboratori Scala Ansaldo, which has employed a number of the house’s master artisans.