STYLE Edit: Daniel Lee reinterprets Bottega Veneta’s iconic Cabat, creating the new unisex Maxi Cabat
The Italian fashion house’s spring/summer 2019 offering, in two sizes, is available with its signature nappa leather intrecciato weave, or soft crocodile or smooth calf versions
The Maxi Cabat is one of two new luxury handbag designs for spring/summer 2019 by Daniel Lee, creative director of Bottega Veneta.
Lee, the former director of ready-to-wear Celine, took up his new role last June. He replaced Tomas Maier, who had served the Italian fashion house for 17 years.
Lee’s collection has seen him reinterpret one of Bottega Veneta’s most iconic handbag designs – the Cabat – with the new unisex Maxi Cabat.
Deceptively simple, Maxi Cabat features the signature intrecciato weave of nappa leather. The handbag’s weave differs from that of its predecessor with wider 4-centimetre (1.6-inch) leather strips and a more rectangular body.
It represents Lee’s slight shift from the Bottega Veneta traditionalism, maintaining only the brand’s most essential history in new pieces under his direction.
Crafting the leather tote is no small feat; two full working days and 20 double-faced strips, or fettucce, of nappa leather are required for this handcrafted piece.
Perhaps the most luxurious aspect of all is that the use of double-faced strips means the interior is exactly the same as the exterior.
Lee’s designs seem to have injected a new modern edge to the 53-year old legacy of the fashion house that specialises in handbags.