New Bottega Veneta campaign shot by Araki

The collection was photographed on location in Tokyo, featuring men’s and women’s pieces from the brand’s collections for the season worn by Dutch model Saskia de Brauw and Korean male model Sung Jin Park.

Inspired by dance and free movements the images capture the weathered finishes to fabrics, with women’s pieces featuring washed calf suede and men’s pieces treated with stitching and fading techniques.

Born in Tokyo in 1940, Araki is one of Japan’s best-known living photographers, famed for his controversial images of women tightly bound in the method of erotic Japanese rope-typing known as kinbaku-bi.

“More than simply provocative, Araki’s images have a powerful honesty and human poignancy that make them unforgettable,” Bottega Veneta Creative Director Tomas Maier explained of the choice. “He has his own visual language, which I was very excited to see translated to the collection.” 

Previous artists to work with Maier and Bottega Veneta include Pieter Hugo, Nan Goldin and Nick Knight among many others. The Araki images will debut in the February issues of select magazines globally, and a video documenting the shoot will arrive at bottegaveneta.com in February.