Burberry climaxed London Fashion Week Monday night with a powerful collection, a town and country meeting staged in a giant plaid green tent in East London.
A United Cohorts of Burberry collection, where creative director Daniel Lee emphasized the many cultural and cool tribes who wear the brand from urban sophisticates to landed gentry. All the way to the royal family, with multiple references to the late Queen’s preference for silk headscarves.
Worn by a roll call of UK supermodels from Lily Cole in a giant technical taffeta parka trimmed with red tartan, and Karen Elson in military maneuver coat, to Naomi Campbell in a sexy screen goddess column that looked made of fur but was actually woven silk viscose, produced in Como.
A show briefly interrupted by one animal rights protester unfurling a white scroll reading ‘Leather Kills’, but just for two seconds before security had hustled her outside.
A sturdy take on Burberry where the catwalk was a wide twisting pathway of taiga green bark chips, and half the cast wore sturdy thick soled thigh boots, knee high boots, hiking footwear and platform loafers. Following up on CEO Jonathan Akeroyd’s declared goal of creating a powerful footwear business for Burberry. When one considers how Akeroyd grew a gothic label like Alexander McQueen into a major white sneaker provider, and a multi-hundred-million business division, expect him to succeed at Burberry too.
The catwalk was a great setting, but a demanding one, as a several models stumbled around on the bark, as if a little tipsy from pre-show champagne.
The heart of the matter was a series of great coats, cut with funnel necks, zippered shoulders, firemen’s clasps and grommeted belts. Made in worn battleship gray or mud or great new Burberry plaids, in forty shades of petrol, celadon, corn and jade green.
Plus, Burberry had the best front row anywhere between New York and London so far this season: soccer greats Ben Chilwell, Bukayo Saka and Dele Alli; actors Olivia Colman, Joanna Lumley, Joel Edgerton, Jonathan Bailey and Barry Keoghan; rapper Skepta; and ‘It Gals’ Jourdan Dunn, Lily Allen, Georgia May Jagger, Cara Delevingne and Lila Moss.
Backed up by a great soundtrack featuring a mix of Amy Winehouse classics from ‘You Know I’m No Good’ to ‘In My Bed’.
For girls, Lee cut natty duffle coats with shearling necklines; showed some great ruffled silk gowns in yellow gold and dreamed up beautifully crocheted cocktails; pairing his dresses with buccaneer’s boots.
“I wanted the feeling of outdoorsy elegance, comfort and warmth. That’s the starting point for everything,” explained Lee.
Clearly growing in self-confidence at Burberry, Lee dressed guys in plaid loon pants with zips extending down both legs from hip to ankle. And left them open. And cut chalk stripe suits in David Byrne ‘Stop Making Sense’ large sizes.
For his third season at Burberry, Lee showed in a huge tent in a distant London park. To emphasize the idea of outdoors/indoors and the sense the audience was in the forest at night, as he sees Burberry as being born in nature.
“My mission was to define who are the people of Burberry. The different characters, from the trench, outerwear and explorer gear to my own urban experience of Burberry. Which was people in the pub or at football grounds. That’s the unique appeal of this brand. It really appeals to everyone,” argued the Yorkshire-born Lee, in a swirl of editors backstage, and several large security staff.
One of whom pointedly took the mobile phone of veteran critic Suzy Menkes and deleted a short video she had shot of Lee. Which for a brand whose DNA is based on explorers, didn’t seem quite right.
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