Unknown designer to revamp BV

Kering SA yesterday tapped an unknown designer who worked at luxury rival LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE’s Celine to revamp the Italian handbag-maker Bottega Veneta.

The 32-year-old British designer Daniel Lee will take over as creative director of the French luxury company’s third-largest brand in July.

He’s succeeding Tomas Maier, the German designer who built Bottega Veneta into a €1.3 billion ($1.5 billion) business but one whose sales peaked in 2015.

Lee worked at Balenciaga and Donna Karan before joining Celine in 2012.

Star designer Phoebe Philo had been floated in the fashion press and by analysts like Exane BNP’s Luca Solca as a potential successor at Bottega Veneta, citing the commercial success of her handbag designs and an understated aesthetic. But Kering has made a habit of tapping behind-the-scenes figures.

“Lee has a deep understanding of the house’s current challenges both in terms of creation and development,” Bottega Veneta chief executive Claus Dietrich Lahrs, who joined Kering from Hugo Boss in 2016, said in a statement.

Maier stepped down after sales stagnated at Bottega Veneta, in contrast to Gucci and other Kering brands.

Bottega Veneta, known for its use of basket-woven leather rather than a prominent logo, has been a favourite of shoppers with a taste for discreet luxury.

But the brand has struggled to generate excitement online at a time when social networks and their millennial devotees are driving growth for the industry.

Kering has sought out designers who make its brands stand out with a clearly branded, recognisable aesthetic that can be extended from products to store decor, social media and more.

But the group may be wary of bringing on major names to do the job following its highly public breakups with former designers including Hedi Slimane and Nicolas Ghesquiere, each of whom ended up facing Kering in French courts.