The world has been ready to see what Daniel Lee would ship for his Burberry debut, which closed out London Style Week’s fall 2023 season this night. Lee, the previous Bottega Veneta inventive director who shot the Italian label to industrial success, induced ripples of shock when he immediately left the model in 2021. He joined Burberry following Riccardo Tisci’s departure in September 2022—and shortly piqued followers’ curiosity with an thrilling style of what was to return. For starters: a uncooked marketing campaign shot by Tyrone Lebon that includes Vanessa Redgrave, John Glacier, Shygirl, Lennon Gallagher, Liberty Ross, and Jun Ji-hyun, and a brand new brand reinstating the equestrian knight first seen in 1901.
Lee definitively reworked Bottega Veneta into an “It” model—and his debut for Burberry introduced the identical form of power. The present befell at St Agnes Place, a road in Kennington, South London; there, the designer introduced an exploration of archival, blown-up checks, together with an ode to absolute, intrinsic Britishness. The test motif was expanded via oversize checkered clothes, loads of trench coats, suiting with a punk disposition, and head-to-toe prints on vibrant tights and large scarfs. Chubby furry collars (Burberry reportedly went fur-free in 2018), utility pockets on outerwear, and fuzzy trimmed baggage underscored the gathering.
However what made Lee’s first outing for the home really feel most fun was the nod to private model and individuality. The designer was trying on the archives and all issues British for inspiration, however the coloration palette and styling spoke volumes a few new technology of individualists. Fashions had been piled with equipment that every felt private—and in some way, the actual gems didn’t get misplaced. Whereas clutching coats and holding onto their purse straps, they wore silver chains, big scarves, and messenger baggage with mismatched fake animal tails. The outsized messaging dominated in more-is-more in layers: large trapper hats, yellow fur-trimmed coats, large pants, belts artfully thrown over coats, ear muffs with sun shades, and bathrobe-like blanket coats swallowed the fashions in a British magpie maximalist fantasy. The gathering was fluidly coed, and marketing campaign stars together with Redgrave and Ross sat entrance row on checkered blankets with scorching water bottles.
On this assortment, it was simple to identify odes to culturally related British references: chavs, punks, and even looking (à la a knitted duck-shaped hat and coats trimmed with unbelievable quantities of feathers). English roses adorned clothes. Wellingtons peeked out from beneath bundles of material, a symphony of mismatched prints. The brand new tackle the Prorsum equestrian was printed onto capes—nevertheless it wasn’t only for brand’s sake. You needed to look twice to note it.
Lee has a historical past of turning out covetable equipment and next-level outerwear. At Burberry, there have been objet d’artwork sneakers that manifested as puffed sneakers and fluffed-up furry heels, knitted water bottles covers (the following “It” accent, we’re calling it now), and blanket coats for each cool child. Scarlet combined with deep navy, and the royal purples with daffodil yellows utilized to clothes had been extra like one thing we’d see from Miuccia Prada pre-Raf Simons. Each piece right here performed with opposing coloration palettes and prevented taking part in it protected—a transfer in contrast to something we’ve seen from Burberry in years. And that’s a superb factor.
