aBritain’s only authentic luxury brand, Burberry is the undisputed headliner of London Fashion Week. The eight-mast, football field-sized tent the brand built over two weeks in East London’s Victoria Park is to London Fashion Week what the Pyramid Stage is to Glastonbury.
The pressure is intense on Daniel Lee, a 38-year-old designer from Bradford. Burberry recently issued him a profit warning, his second in three months, but after three seasons, Lee’s tenure has reached the point where only handbag hits are enough. But in the front row there was Joanna Lumley beaming in ivory silk evening pajamas, Barry Keoghan looking dapper in a polo-neck sweater under his suit, and Brits including Naomi Campbell and Karen Elson. Despite the all-star cast of models, this collection felt a little lackluster.
The inside of the tent was dimly lit, covered with soft grass mats, and filled with the scent of ivy created by perfumer H for this day. “I wanted it to feel like a forest at night,” Lee said after the Fall/Winter 2024 season. show. “A sense of outdoor elegance, comfort and warmth.”
Lee’s big idea for Burberry is to become an outdoor, all-weather brand. (He swapped the white Porsche he drove while designing for Bottega Veneta in Milan for a Land Rover.)
That’s where the tent is. The Burberry show is all about coats, and here there were plenty of parkas, duffels, field jackets, and rugged coats. His trench coat was purposefully crumpled and the collar held up high to protect it from the rain. Models strutted down the catwalk wearing scarves in their hair, umbrellas and toothy lug-soled boots. Soft earth browns blend into muddy greens. The crocheted evening dress Campbell wore was also inspired by moss, Lee said.
Lee faces a tough task. Burberry is synonymous with Britishness around the world, and success is at the heart of Leigh’s vision of Burberry’s visual language, which expresses Britishness in a way that is contemporary and authentic, yet newsworthy and interesting, yet engaging and aspirational. It depends on how you define it.
“The appeal and beauty of this brand is that it appeals to a wide range of people, from football fans to royalty,” he said. “But if you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one. As a designer, I have to have perspective.” You can’t make a simple trench coat forever. ”
There is no more British topic of conversation than the weather, and Mother Nature has the advantage of being a neutral ground in the British hierarchy. Burberry has suffered in the past from being seen as too elitist or a sleazy company, but Lee is wise not to take sides.
“I’ve been thinking about all the people who wear Burberry, and by that I mean from the early explorers to my own experience of people who are more urban, wearing Burberry on the football field or in the pub. ” he said backstage.
