"Fucking Niger" - Is this the reason for the sudden departure of the successful designer?

The fashion industry was struck by astonishment when it became known about the departure of Daniel Lee, the gifted designer who marched Bottega and tended to the top.

So what the hell happened there, what are the traditional customers in LA telling, and who will now head the boiling brand?

all the details

Eleanor Dvir

21/11/2021

Sunday, 21 November 2021, 11:15 Updated: 11:17

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Racist remarks?

Daniel Lee and Naomi Campbell last October in a display in memory of Albert Elbaz (Photo: GettyImages)

About ten days ago it was announced that the artistic director

, 35, and the Italian fashion house Bottega Veneta had reached a decision on ending their joint journey.

The termination of Lee's employment occurred after three years in which he marched the prestigious label to the top in terms of fashion, media and economics.

The official announcement included wording talking about "ending the collaboration" between the two alongside words of thanks for the designer's contribution to the hype surrounding Bottega, a report that landed in complete surprise on the fashion industry which praised, let alone worshiped, his work.

Given the fashion house's incredible financial performance during Lee's tenure plus the fact that just last month he unveiled the Spring 2022 collection at a coveted salon party in Detroit, it's hard not to wonder, what the hell happened there?

And is this a planned friendly split, or something more dramatic?

One of the brand's outstanding embassies - Rosie and veteran of the 'Push' (Photo: splash)

The truth, of course, almost always finds its way to light, and Booiknd latter is flooded Twitter kindly wrote fashion and Hmsfian Louis Pisano piped up: "Ostensibly, it comes from a reliable source especially close to the story: Daniel Lee was fired immediately by

after allegedly called someone in the expression Fucking N * gger during a meeting held at Bottega Venta. "

Pino, who is married to Mexican-American actress Selma Hayek, is a French businessman who heads the Kering Empire, a corporation that owns, among others, the Gucci, Bottega Venta, Yves Saint Laurent and Balenciaga fashion houses. A response tweet on behalf of the corporation tried to silence the flames, with partial success it should be noted, "We deny what you were told and what you shared about the reasons for Daniel Lee leaving Bottega Veneta," the company wrote. The Cut magazine published the tweets and asked for responses from Pizano, Mackering and Daniel Lee. The first two refused the request and the designer claimed they could not be apprehended.

The man responsible for the dismissal - François Henry Pino with his wife Selma Hayek (Photo: GettyImages)

Earlier this week it was revealed that designer Matthew Blazey, 37, who was recruited to the Botega ranks a little over a year ago and worked under Daniel Lee as a modern-day man, is the one to step into the combo boots he left behind for me.

Blaise, a native of Paris, was marked as a promising designer even before completing his degree in fashion design at "La Cambre" Brussels, during internships at Balenciaga under Nicolas Gasquier and at Maison Martin Margirella under John Galliano, another glorious artistic director who descended from his greatness in the name of racism.

Daniel Lee receives award from Rosie Huntington-Whitley (Photo: GettyImages)

After graduating in 2007, Blazey's fashion career began to blossom when he worked closely with Raf Simmons as a menswear designer, where he also met his life partner, Peter Moliere.

He later moved with Simmons to housing and then to Calvin Klein, until he jumped back to Margiala in 2014, this time as No. 1, and was crowned by reputed fashion journalist Susie Menkes as "the most famous designer you've ever heard of."

As chief designer at Maison Margiela, Blazey's collections were an impressive success, the most notable of which was the fall-winter 2014 in which he presented masks adorned with stones and diamonds that gained fame thanks to Kenya West who adopted several of them for a tour.

He met Lee two years later at the Celine fashion house, where the two worked closely with Phoebe Philo, until the latter retired in 2019, when Lee was selected for the position at Bottega.

Substitute - Matthew Blazey

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A post shared by Matthieu Blazy (@matthieu_blazy)

The Kering Corporation's move represents the approach that has worked well in the luxury brand industry in recent years and is finding and nurturing talent instead of importing star designers from outside.

This is how it worked with Alessandro Michela in Gucci, with Lee in Bottega and now in the promotion of Blazey.

Given the similarities in the career paths of the last two, it is unlikely that the new appointment will herald an aesthetic change for the brand.

And beyond that, Makor Rishon and Amin personally reported to us about the brand's customers in Los Angeles who received a personal message about the designer change, noting that there was no stylistic danger since the new designer actually did everything.

Something that doesn’t quite fit with the schedule of the launch of the reputed ‘Push’ portfolio, Daniel Lee’s powerful opening shot at Bottega, and Blazzy’s entry into the picture in mid-2020.

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Irina Shake on the Bottega runway with the Spring-Summer 2020 collection (Photo: GettyImages)

But there's nothing like a little blackout to light huge bonfires.

After all, the out-of-the-box blackout instantly ended a glorious career as a designer who turned a prestigious yet sleepy Italian brand into a dizzying success that sets the fashion agenda at a level it has never been there before.

Matthew Blazey's appointment was welcomed by the industry which greeted him with a stream of emojis, posted on his Instagram feed.

New York Times fashion editor Vanessa Friedman took to Twitter to agree: "It's time for him to get a brand. It's going to be interesting."

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