Interview

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One of the most indelible images from the spring 2010 collections was the finale of the Bottega Veneta show. A trio of gowns floated down the catwalk in a cloud of color so luminous it seemed to suck the light from the room. The fabric—a synthetic chiffonproduced in Japan—is one of the lightest known to man, so fine, in fact, that it can only be hand-cut with lasers. Science aside, it was the translucent beauty of the dresses that drew a gasp from the audience. And one can only imagine how satisfying that would be for Tomas Maier, the man behind the wheel at Bottega, the Italian label whose subtlety is an antidote to the excess of an era.

Born in Germany on the edge of the Black Forest, and now a resident for at least half the year in Palm Beach, Florida, Maier is something of a paradox—a laconic sensualist. For nine years before Bottega, he was a designer at Hermès, where Jean-Louis Dumas imparted the formula that the 52-year-old Maier lives by: passion and patience. In other words, everything takes time. So for the past eight years, Maier has slowly, steadily reconfigured Bottega as the idiosyncratic apogee of 21st-century affluence. The label’s original modest motto—“When your own initials are enough”—is perfectly in tune with the designer’s own yen to keep himself as invisible as possible. So it follows that he’s not much of a talker. But he scarcely needs to be when the distinctive union of craft, technology, and desire that he has brokered speaks so effectively on his behalf. Still, there was much to say when we met in Bottega’s swanky new Milan headquarters, a few days after the spring show.

TIM BLANKS: Did this last collection feel special to you, like a big move forward?

TOMAS MAIER: No, because I think every collection is always a move forward. It’s the same work—the process is always the same. The interesting thing is to try to achieve a certain nothingness.

BLANKS: I thought it was interesting that the colors were so strong in this collection, because they were also concealed. A dress would open quite slyly and reveal intense color underneath. It struck me that there was some kind of psychology at work—the outside is serene, then there’s this tumultuous little streak on the inside. Do you think like that when you’re making clothes?

MAIER: It’s the moment when you’re making the clothes—“Doesn’t this need that?” That’s how it comes. It’s not from, like, thinking for hours. Most of the things happen when you are in the fitting. When you make clothes, the fitting is the decisive moment. BLANKS: You mentioned nothingness. Is that really your goal at the end of it all?

MAIER: Well, that’s what’s interesting. You know, I’ve been in clothes-making for 32 years. Think how many times I’ve made a blazer in my life, how many shirts I’ve made. What’s interesting is to strive for a certain perfection, and what’s perfect is nothing.

BLANKS: As in complete purity? Or is it that the more “nothing” the clothes are, the more “something” the person wearing them is?

MAIER: Yeah, I mean, the better the clothes are, the less you see them.

BLANKS: Is that the ultimate craftsmanship for you, to actually make the craft completely invisible?

MAIER: It’s the ultimate for me not to see how it’s made. I find it vulgar when you can distinguish how something is made. I used to be a student at the Chambre Syndicale [de la Haute Couture] in Paris, and once I got to go to a Saint Laurent couture show. Everyone was always talking about how fabulous the tailoring was, but I was transfixed by this one particular dress. It was just a piece of fabric, but as the model was walking, you didn’t know how she got into it, how it closed, where the seams were, and that, for me, was perfection. It stayed with me as a lifelong vision. So this is why I’m making bags that don’t even have a seam. But many people don’t get that. They run through the showroom and go, “He did yellow bags this season.” That’s fine. Not everything needs to be visible to everyone. But personally, that’s what makes my work interesting to me. The whole fashion thing is not that interesting to me. The overall circus is not my universe.