Ilaria Icardi reportedly joining Bottega Veneta's creative team

By

Dominique Muret

Translated by
Roberta HERRERA

Published
Mar 5, 2022

Bottega Veneta expands its team after presenting Matthieu Blazy's first collection for the brand as its new creative director. Ilaria Icardi, who has more than 25 years of experience in the luxury industry, has reportedly been appointed as ready-to-wear design director of the brand. The Italian Kering-owned label did not wish to comment on the information published by the American magazine WWD.

The London-based Italian designer was born and raised in northern Italy’s jewelry district, Valenza. Her father Umberto Icardi founded the Emmeti jewelry company in the 1960s, whose clients included Tiffany and Co. and Cartier. Ilaria however chose to focus on women's ready-to-wear, beginning her career in the 1990s at Etro, where she was in charge of materials research, before developing the first women’s ready-to-wear line for Hugo Boss.

In 2001, she moved to Paris to work at Yves Saint Laurent led by Tom Ford and maintained her position under Stefano Pilati after he succeeded the American designer. She moved to London ten years later, joining Celine as design director, where she worked closely with then creative director Phoebe Philo. During this time, she met Daniel Lee, the previous artistic director of Bottega Veneta. Note that his successor, Matthieu Blazy, also worked at Celine.

Five years later, she left Celine for Victoria Beckham, where she still holds the position of design director across all categories today. She decided to build on her family business, launching her own jewelry brand, Ilaria Icardi, at the end of 2020 together with her brother Lorenzo, a gemology expert.