February 25, 2025 |
Could it all finally click at Burberry? To say a lot was riding on one fashion show would be to underestimate it. Britain’s premiere luxury brand has been fighting poor financials and a tough economic climate. It needed to change the narrative and remind everyone why it is a global fashion powerhouse.
Daniel Lee knew what was required. He stepped up with a convincing collection that leaned into Burberry’s outerwear excellence as well as the enduring, global appeal of Britain’s country houses – their glamour, faded grandeur and eccentricity. And who better to show that off than a cast of iconic British film and television names who have telegraphed that Brideshead-meets-Burberry sense of Britishness out to the world? Step up Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù (Mr. Malcolm’s List), Jason Isaacs (Verona’s Romeo & Juliet), Richard E. Grant (Gosford Park), Guy Remmers (The Buccaneers), Elizabeth McGovern (Downton Abbey), Jessica Madsen (Bridgerton) and Lesley Manville (The Crown).
Lee imagined city dwellers shaking off the working week by decamping to the country. “It’s that great Friday night exodus from London. Long rainy walks in the great outdoors to disconnect and day trips to grand stately homes,” said the designer. Saltburn was also on his mind – its twisted, bohemian spirit was, he said, was “the kind of energy that we wanted to portray in the show.” The aim too was to refocus on what Burberry does best. “Burberry is a brand that’s made for being on the go, being in motion, and in movement, outside and in all different types of weather and terrain,” said Lee.
Coats (finally) played a starring role, inspired by the designer’s wintry walks in his native Yorkshire, where the brand also has a tench coat factory. Excellent great coats, leather trenches, dressing gown coats, shaggy little shearlings, billowing parkas and quilted jackets all came in earthy shades of brown, burgundy and green. They were worn with punkish tartan trousers, with kilts buckled to the front, silk pyjamas, ribbed knit co-ords or jodhpurs and thigh high riding boots. “We folded country house interiors into contemporary dress codes; and fused weather-shielding fabrics with elaborate wall-hangings,” said Lee who transposed flocked wallpaper and furniture fabric onto his ready-to-wear. Old chesterfields were the inspiration for weathered leather trenches in autumnal shades, smock dresses and suiting came in vivid flocked velvet whilst the heavily fringed trench coats (one worn by Naomi Campbell) were inspired by curtain tassels.
“I was struck by the craftsmanship and those lavish fabrics and swatches of hand-painted wallpapers and of all the furnishing fabrics, handmade carpets and sumptuous, somewhat faded tapestry,” said the designer who added plenty of crafty flourishes of his own, from the cape backed, leather mini trenches with hand-tooled decoration, to Burberry check rendered in patchwork shearling for capes.
Speaking of the Burberry check – it appeared on shoes, bags and was subtly etched onto the leather collars of trenches. It looked good. It felt good. If only Emerald Fennell could direct the campaign.
Photography courtesy of Burberry.
