Riccardo Tisci took us to a rave in a quarry for his Burberry menswear film. The excavated setting served as a metaphor for how the designer is digging deep into craft and cuts as he develops a distinctive design language for Burberry’s menswear.
House classics are dissected, spliced, cut away and reassembled into something very new. The look is architectural and experimental, with cutaway peepholes and tabs accentuating the body beautifully. A halter-neck trench showed off honed biceps. An abstracted, hourglass bib was worn over muscular bare skin, light monochrome T-shirts came in shadowy layers, ribbons described a ribcage and straps on the legs played on bondage motifs.
Tisci’s Burberry boys strode through the sun-blasted sand, some carrying a friend on their shoulders – festival style – and joined the party of revellers, lost in trance-like music. It was, he said, “all about the power and the beauty of self-expression and about escaping and coming together as one to celebrate our creativity. I have always been inspired by music and by its ability to transport your mind – how it can connect you with times, places and people beyond boundaries.”
Music, he said, has always played a big role in his life: “like a running soundtrack and energy throughout my youth. So many of my memories forged through music take me back to an incredible time when I was discovering myself – my voice, my identity, my creativity – sharing my experiences with friends and sometimes even strangers along the way. It was like being on a universal journey, brought together by a collective sense of openness, acceptance and opportunity.”
Branding was oblique – not in your face, but definitely there. The black-beige-red palette was informed by the house check and one model – clad in a sleek, black leather tunic – carried a backpack embossed with the intersecting lines of the check. The strong, graphic look was accentuated by models who wore their hair in black, red or blonde buzz cuts, their faces heavily adorned with pierced acetate hoops. The aesthetic boldness was by design.
“I wanted the collection to capture that free spirit of youth and its honest and daring attitude, that sense of experimentation and fluidity. There is a strong feeling of unity but also of individuality – encouraging and uplifting each other to express ourselves freely,” he said. “It’s a very raw energy that’s infectious, exciting and full of life. Like an awakening.”
Photography courtesy of Burberry.
