Before leaving for Chanel, Matthieu Blazy’s final act as Bottega Veneta’s creative director was its Spring/Summer 2025 collection. And it was here that he proposed what I believe is his most ludicrous leather experiment yet. 

That’s a big claim, given the amount of wild (and wildly expensive) leather-work the designer has presided over.

In his three years at the creative helm of Bottega, the French-Belgian designer proved that he could make just about anything wearable out of leather: bog-standard cotton socks, understated blue jeans, a non-descript gray sweatsuit… through the work of Bottega's leather artisans, Blazy cleverly crafted these everyday items out of leather in a clever act of illusion. 

Next up for Blazy? Bouquets of flowers. 

Yes, the flowers you saw models holding at the Bottega Veneta SS25 runway were, in fact, handwoven from leather strips. Even the brown paper wrapping they came in is actually a textured double calf leather.

You can’t trust anything you see from those pesky designers at Bottega, they’re even turning paper into leather. 

All this handmade, high-grade leather creation does, predictably, cost a pretty penny. The flowers are now available on Bottega’s website for $8,800, with the option of sunflowers or violets. 

While Bottega’s other pieces of leather trompe l'oeil have been wearable items of clothing, this time it's a fake paper bag that looks like a pain to carry around.

But, at least, the flowers inside the bag will never wilt. 

Bottega Veneta

1 / 5

You can have these flowers sitting on the mantlepiece with full confidence that they'll never wither away. And you could admire them while cozying up in a leather Bottega sweatsuit, if that's your kind of thing.