Bottega Veneta’s Spring/Summer 2014 collection featured a palette that was in direct opposition to each other on the colour spectrum: from intense dark hues like black, grey, admiral blue, navy, espresso, army green, aubergine, burnt red and dusky salmon, to mud, sand, mist and splashes of crisp white.

Bottega also debuts a specially developed fabric of woven copper thread and cotton, which resulted in a material that looked and felt like nothing we’ve ever encountered before. Instead of prints, this season’s collection focused on texture that was created with embroidery and swatching techniques for that textured multi-dimensional effect (shown below).

Going through the photos of the bags, it’s pretty obvious that the key detail on not just the bags, but also Bottega’s accessories (like the cuffs visible in the images below which I would absolutely wear in a heartbeat and those of you who know me personally would definitely agree that it’s totally my kind of look) are those circular, almost globular things in various sizes. The monocle was the inspiration behind those embellishments, and those discs are actually rock crystals. The silhouette of the season was most definitely the framed top handle bags in an assortment of exotic skins ranging from lizard, croc, and shiny Madras, to cotton tweed and leather. There was also a variation of what seemed like Bottega’s “Brick” bag, sans weave, but instead in smaller sizes for SS14, which I quite liked, but my favourites would definitely have to be framed clutches (last 2 photos below) with the circular crystals! I have nothing but love for them!

Creative Director Tomas Maier comments that “The collection is about freshness, both in terms of material and technique [because he] was interested in allowing the fabric to take the lead, serving as a guide to the possibilities of what we would be able to achieve”.

Runway Images courtesy of Bottega Veneta Detail images of bags via Style.com