How Edward Buchanan Wove The Foundations For Bottega Veneta’s Ready-to-wear.
Ed Buchanan on the runway after Bottega Veneta’s first ever Milan show.
I preface my reflections by pointing out that I loathe talking about myself, but a story which could be compelling and useful for the journey of another is enough to keep me invested.
I honestly often feel like and elder statesman of an industry and a city that I have contributed more than two decades creating a home in. Although I find self-proclaimed titles weird, others have referred to me as daddy, a goat, and even aunty to my dismay. I was unexpectedly called the best American designer label (probably) you’ve never heard of by Luke Leitch, but in the big fashion landscape all is subjective.
My name is Edward Buchanan and I am a trained fashion designer. My discipline and skill set has a base which was informed by years of study in Ohio and at Parsons School of Design in NYC. I did not benefit from generational wealth, but I am fortunate to have been raised by a single mother who, by all means necessary, surrounded me and my two older brothers with love and possibilities well beyond her means.
I was born in Cleveland Ohio, I became an adult in New York City, and a professional in Milano Italy. I was a window dresser at Benetton and the Gap around 1988 that helped to pay off some school debt. I was living my Hollywood Montrose era (a window dressing character in the cult film Mannequin from 1987). It was around the same time that I perused the luxury shops such as Charivari on west 57th and Untitled downtown. I couldn’t afford a thing, but I recall my first big bucket purchase was a nylon Gaultier Junior quilted bomber in navy blue and burnt orange. I worked and studied full-time, spent my earnings on fashion, and reserved my evenings for the club where the dots were connected. Nightlife and the streets were my office. I recall on my first trip to NYC while walking on Broadway at Houston with my polaroid camera, I looked up and snapped a photo of a couple walking down the street. That couple turned out to be Keith haring and his boyfriend. NYC was like this, I always had the feeling if I wasn’t out in it, I was missing something.
I’ve certainly met the majority of the people I know in the club. Creatives and friends such as Andre Walker, Honey Dijon, Ladyfag, Paul Alexander, and Jason Campbell, I encountered them all on some dark dancefloor. In the clubs in the 90s social media traps were non existing, so we were thrilled to be educated by the beats and content to actually talk to people. As a young fashion student I would see Michael Schmidt and Marc Jacobs playing pool at Boy Bar on St Marks Place where I first saw “Connie Girl” Fleming perform with the endlessly fierce Boy Bar beauties. Pat Field window dresser JoJo “Field” Americo was so elegant and effortlessly cool. I would see him at the Rock and Roll fag bar SqueezeBox where I would regularly see John John Kennedy chilling among the total mélange of characters on Friday nights. Salon Wednesdays at flamingo east and Sugar Babies in the East Village were also a must. Me and My bestie Danny Gonzales would hold court in front of Wonder Bar, while Honey Dijon DJ’d at The Cock where the late Nashom “Mona Foot“ Wooden manned the legendary smut bar.
Rodney Paterson, whom I also met at the club, was the display person for Bottega Veneta on Madison Avenue. Rodney informed me of the ready-to-wear designer position opening at the brand and introduced me to the Moltedo Family. Just to be clear, in 1995 I was dreaming about brands like XULY Bet and Margiela, so Bottega was not in my creative observation but this was my first shot and I was determined to make it work. I walked into the store for the first time to see shelves of woven handbags thinking to myself WTF will I do here. Thinking out of the box, I presented a risky and creative project to the owner Laura Moltedo (who happened to work at Warhol’s factory back in the day), and a few weeks later I was flying to Vicenza Italy hired as the first ready to wear designer of the celebrated luxury brand. This was pre-Gucci group, so there was no time for mental or technical preparation for this opportunity, I had to show and prove. On my first trip to Italy, I landed in Venice and was stopped and cavity searched. This was the first instant in which I felt that the color of my skin in this country would be my biggest reminder that I was indeed a foreigner, and more importantly a black man. This single experience informed what would be my reality and also become the reason that I battle systemic discrimination in the spaces where I work today.
Bottega Veneta was my school in luxury goods. It was a ridiculously extravagant time where we were creating toils in crocodile. Budgets were high and the creative process benefited from the possibilities. When I started at Bottega Veneta in 1995 there was no apparel. I was handed the pins and pushed off to get the program running while speaking zero Italian. Although I had interned at Michael Kors in NY and done various jobs as a fashion illustrator on seventh avenue, I was a green and unprepared twenty-four-year-old who found himself at the helm of a heritage house and I was quietly shitting my pants. (Side-bar: I also got hired as an intern at Perry Ellis under Marc Jacobs, but it never happened after the grunge collection.)
I created the first collection a half year after I started which was essentially a small capsule including drawstring Nappa leather separates and fine gauged cashmere knitted racer back tanks that served as accessories to the bread winning accessories. My intention was always to respect the motto of the house “When your own initials are enough.” My discretion was to be respectful and allow myself to quietly develop. It never occurred to me at the time how important this opportunity would be for the trajectory of my career because although I was young, I was never interested in flexing.
After presenting years of small presentations, we planned our first show in Milano for Spring Summer 1999. Manuela Morin was designing shoes and Eduardo Wong Vale was the veteran handbag designer. We had an incredibly small and precise team with Laura Moltedo’s discerning eye on the development of the project. Rachel Roberts was our very first RTW campaign model shot by Peter Lindbergh in 1998, and a year later Vivien Solari became the face of the brand introduced by Anita BiRon and lensed by Steven Klein. We were already dressing new artist such as Lauryn Hill, and even John Galliano was a regular in the shop to buy our red aviator sunglasses. Several years later I met Ka4e Grand in NYC. Two seasons prior we hired Stuart Vevers to design handbags, whom kept Kylie Minogue blaring in the studio halls. Katie was the first and only show stylist that I worked with in my tenure at Bottega. We were like slick oil and boiling water to start, but I was impressed at how confident she and Giles Deacon were in their impressed at how confident she and Giles Deacon were in their process. It was a masterclass in how to deliver cool with conviction with the support of a tight and loyal community. I remember her cutting off the fingers of the angora and leather gloves and me and Laura gagged! We all collectively watched as the brand transformed into this international storm that we all contributed to. We were so young and somehow unbothered with what it meant to be a part of a system, so the results were honest. This was also around the 4me that I knew my tenure at BV was ending. I had given my all, and I wanted to experience what it was like as an independent. I am not sure she will recall, but I will always remember at the FW 2000 show in NYC when the last model walked out to Prince’s Irresistible bitch, Katie leaned over to kiss me on the cheek and it was the kindest sentiment that felt like her saying to me…. I see you.
I was the creative director at Bottega Veneta, but I was working without that title. I took my post show bows for the collections that I designed and was always focused on doing the work. More recently an article was released in an American fashion trade journal recounting the history of Bottega Veneta. I was written out of the story. I pondered on this but decided to confront the writer and defend my history and the importance of my appointment at the time. The story was amended and apologies were sent, but I was determined to ensure that writing black and brown creatives out of a stories was not going to happen on my watch ever again.
Post Bottega was the start of my real career. I emerged as a design consultant, and during my final season at BV started my own collection with Manuela Morin called LEFLESH. We had tough but memorable times creating with no rules. While shooting our first look book I finally had the chance to work with Debra Shaw for one single shot, and we’ve been connected ever since. We built the company not fully grasping that we were no longer working with luxury budgets. It challenged a friendship, but in the end made us stronger. It didn’t take long for us to understand what it was like to be on our own and how turbulent the learning curve would be. In our time we designed bronze studded harness belts for Cher and created looks for Jennifer Lopez for her film Maid in Manhattan which led to her contacting me to work on her Sweemace brand in NYC. This was the ah ha moment when I understood the real power of celebrity as it relates to design. Jennifer was an enormous celebrity which meant late hours, paparazzi dramas, and many last second design changes. My celebrity days took me into many studios working with legends like Iman (a chance meeting of David bowie where I was so shocked that I couldn’t speak) Canadian trips to meet with Mick Jagger, green room chats with Grace Jones, and show room visits by Kanye West. I reflect on these years with little nostalgia because it seemed somehow normal for me to be in these circles, but I am fully aware that these were valuable stories that document a time that is no longer.
The reality is that my career, like many consultants, has been a roller coaster of intense emotions and plummetting finances. Luckily, my knitwear collection SANSOVINO6 has been my mainstay for almost 15 years and remains my creative outlet where I can finally work on my own terms. I’ve worked on so many collaborations that at times it seems as though I’ve worked with everyone in the room, but my most memorable collaboration to date has been working with Virgil Abloh at Off-White. The organic process between me and Virgil was built on the most honest and mutual trust, respect, and love for the creative process. When V said to me “I want hot knits” I knew exactly what he meant, and wanted to always deliver. Virgil lifted me and spoke my name at a time when few saw value in my experience.
Around 2003, I saw one of my hero’s the legendary downtown NYC designer Steven Sprouse sitting in the middle of Milano’s Piazza del Duomo staring at the sky alone. I glanced at him nervously for a second and thought, this is my chance to tell him, while he is in my adopted home town, what he meant to me and how my dorm walls were plastered with his images. I wanted him to know I spent my last coins to own his day-glo Warhol camouflage leggings, his Band-Aid shorts, and his God save NYC t-shirt. I wanted him to know it all, but I couldn’t build up the courage to approach him, therefore I let him in peace. At times it’s best to allow your hero’s to remain enigmatic.
