Burberry capped off London Fashion Week on Monday night with a powerful collection, a meeting of town and country staged in a giant green checkered tent in east London.
A collection from United Cohorts of Burberry, where creative director Daniel Lee emphasized the many cultural and cool tribes that wear the brand, from urban sophisticates to landed gentry. Even the royal family, with multiple references to the late queen's preference for silk scarves.
Worn by a roster of UK supermodels, from Lily Cole in a giant technical taffeta parka trimmed in red tartan, and Karen Elson in a military maneuver coat, to Naomi Campbell in a sexy screen goddess spine that looked made leather but it was actually woven in silk viscose. , produced in Como.
A spectacle briefly interrupted by an animal rights protester unfurling a white scroll reading “Leather Kills,” but only for two seconds before security shoved her outside.
A rugged version of Burberry where the runway was a wide, winding path of green taiga bark chunks, and half the cast wore sturdy, thick-soled thigh-high boots, knee-high boots, walking shoes, and platform loafers. Following CEO Jonathan Akeroyd's stated goal of creating a powerful footwear business for Burberry. When one considers how Akeroyd turned a goth brand like Alexander McQueen into a major purveyor of white sneakers and a multimillion-dollar business division, one would expect him to be successful at Burberry as well.
The catwalk was a fantastic setting, but demanding, as several models stumbled on the crust, as if they were a little drunk from the pre-show champagne.
At the heart of the matter was a series of stupendous coats, cut with funnel collars, zipped shoulders, fireman's snaps and eyelet belts. Made in worn battleship gray or mud or fantastic new Burberry checks, in forty shades of petrol, celadon, maize and jade green.
Additionally, Burberry had the best front row 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 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 made elegant duffle coats with sheepskin necklines; she showed off some fantastic yellow gold ruffled silk dresses and imagined beautifully crocheted cocktails; combining her dresses with buccaneer boots.
“I wanted the feeling of elegance, comfort and warmth of the outdoors. That's the starting point of everything,” Lee explained.
Clearly gaining self-confidence at Burberry, Lee dressed the boys in plaid pants with zippers that extended down both legs from hip to ankle. And he left them open. And cut chalk striped suits in plus sizes from David Byrne 'Stop Making Sense'.
For his third season at Burberry, Lee performed in a huge tent in a distant London park. To emphasize the idea of outdoors/indoors and the feeling that the audience was in the forest at night, as she sees Burberry as born in nature.
“My mission was to define who the people of Burberry are. The different characters, from the trench coat, outerwear and explorer clothing to my own urban experience with Burberry. Which were people in the pub or on the football fields. That is the unique appeal of this brand. It really appeals to everyone,” argued Yorkshire-born Lee amid a whirlwind of backstage editors and several senior security staff.
One of them intentionally took the mobile phone of veteran critic Suzy Menkes and deleted a short video she had recorded of Lee. Which, for a brand whose DNA is based on explorers, didn't seem quite right.
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