The location of my first meeting with Louise Trotter, the new creative director of Bottega Veneta, is confirmed just an hour before we’re due to meet. It feels fitting: Bottega Veneta has long been known for a kind of elegant restraint, and until very recently, Trotter has been deliberately private about her debut collection, keeping even her process closely guarded.

The address finally arrives: Villa Clerici, an aristocratic mansion nestled in the Niguarda district of Milan, north of the city. Once you’re past the imposing gate, a hidden world unfolds — first an enormous Italian garden dotted with statues, then another large garden at the rear containing two amphitheatres. Villa Clerici’s interior rooms feature 18th-century frescoes, trompe l’oeil decorations, and coffered ceilings. It all feels opulent yet somehow restrained — sacred and slightly surreal at the same time.