The Bottega Veneta Resort 2020 ad campaign celebrates and subverts the iconography of modern luxury. In this campaign “Bottega Veneta clothes are worn in context, mixed with real characters and live in the moment. They are elevated and everyday and that’s what makes them powerful,” says Daniel Lee.

An oversized gold chain runs through a photographic studio; the space unretouched, instilling tension between environments raw and refined. Jewelry, a key code of Lee’s design, invades the silhouette. Accessories an essential extension of the form. Both weave into the brand’s new DNA. Colors are smoked blue, pine green, burnt caramel to black – muted and visceral. Clothes are beautifully crafted, effortlessly elevated, and set in a stark but aspirational reality.

Featuring model Jean Campbell and cult designer Andre Walker – characters who take the lead in their own lives – the Bottega Veneta community grows the narrative of Daniel Lee’s evolution with each collection.

The Bottega Veneta Resort 2020 ad campaign studies the cult of an icon and takes inspiration from Italian neo-realist cinema. Elements of the studio, realism versus finesse, life’s characters alongside working ‘actors’ – the high contrasted with the low, all adding a tension to the imagery.

Film director Federico Fellini once commented “Neorealism is not about what you show, but how you show it. It’s simply a way of looking at the world without preconceptions or prejudices.” This process is applied to inspire the imagery, the collection and the styling.