Issue link: https://www.balharbourdigital.com/i/56249
It was Tom Ford who had the brilliant idea to hire Tomas Maier to reinvent Bottega Veneta. rector of Bottega Veneta, Maier has always sought inspiration from more somber, urbane sources like the buildings of modernist architects or the paintings of abstract expressionists. Landscapes, per se, particularly the postcard-perfect images of surf and bikini culture, were not on his radar. But ever since he relocated to Miami in the late 1990s, Maier has seen the city's sunlit aesthetic slowly infiltrate his work. For his Spring collection, for example, Maier doused breezy dresses and G hobo bags alike in shades of sunset pink, turquoise, periwinkle and tanger- ine. Even the easy breezy fabrics, all twisted and treated to create a multi- dimensional brushstroke effect, evoke the lightness of shrugged-on beach caftans. Actually, Maier explains that with the fabrics—all cotton organzas, high-shine satins and ultra-matte silk chiffons custom-developed and woven to his specifications—he was looking to create the effect of painting the dress on the body. Not just the light and the beach culture, but even the ar- chitecture of South Florida has inspired Maier, particularly the Colonial Re- 150 BAL HARBOUR rowing up on the edge of the Black Forest in Pforzheim, Germany, designer Tomas Maier couldn't possibly have imagined that some day he would live in the kind of blindingly bright landscape of bleached pastel houses, chalk white walkways and towering coconut trees that is unique to South Florida. Throughout his long career, working at Sonia Rykiel and Hermès in Paris, and then commut- ing to Milan as the head designer and creative di- vival style made popular in Palm Beach by people like Addison Mizner, John Volk and Maurice Fatio. "Moving to Florida then was more about the outdoor lifestyle than any- thing," says Maier. "I had lived in Paris for so many years and on weekends in the city I would go to art galleries and movies while my French friends would go to their mother or grandmother's house in the countryside. I didn't have that. And growing up in the Black Forest, I missed it." So in 1999 Maier quit all of his freelance contracts in Paris and moved to Miami Beach with his partner, Andrew Preston. Together they launched the Tomas Maier brand, a collection of beautifully made, sophisticated beach cover-ups, biki- nis and T-shirts. They opened a shop and offered a curated collection of Maier's favorite products such as Cire Trudon candles, Turkish beach towels and Tom Binns jewelry. "The move was a bit of a culture shock," says Maier, who is known for his discreet, almost minimal aesthetic. "And after a while Miami turned into de- veloper central, so we moved away." They migrated north to a little town of 700 people in Palm Beach County very close to Delray Beach. "It's real, not manmade," he says, "of course it's a little manicured, but mostly it's just a small town where you can be outside all of the time. It's not atrociously hot." Nowadays Maier and Preston spend most of their winters in Florida, commuting to Milan for the menswear and women's wear shows and to New York, where Maier has a Bottega Veneta design studio. With so much commuting, leisure travel is less appealing, and Maier prefers to stay put in Florida.