After Burberry announced Daniel Lee as Ricardo Tisci’s successor as creative director of the house, the fashion set had only one question on their mind: would Burberry once again become Britain’s ‘cool’ brand?
Now, during the FW/23 season of London Fashion Week, eager crowds finally have their answer.
In signature Lee fashion, the creative director has created a cohesive collection that radically codifies Burberry’s history with a streetwise swagger that cements the brand’s future as a covetable maison.
If you look at English fashion, Burberry is so engrained in the cultural zeitgeist—in part thanks to the brand’s longstanding history, but also in itsability to permeate all levels of British individuality.
The bar was set high for Lee’s debut. Lee was positioned as the man who single-handedly revived Bottega Veneta’s status, and after Tiscis’s polarising five year helm at the brand,Lee’s role is to breathe new life into Burberry.
In his debut collection, Lee flexes his ability to not only move a brand forward, but honour its past, which is what made the classic Burberry trench an apt starting point for the collection.
Recreated in a charcoal colourway and adorned with a faux fur collar and lapel, the trench set the tone for the proceeding collection which combines Burberry’s military inspired roots, with London’s style set appetite for dopamine dressing and experimentation.
As we first saw in Lee’s campaign for Burberry, he then took on the challenge on contextualising the iconography of the nova check for a new generation.
He did so by departing from the classic beige colourways and experimenting with bold Yves Klein blues, vibrant mustards and primrose reds.
Just when we thought that Lee couldn’t get any more British, he styled the collection with sette-approved moccasins, a chic hot water bottle and over the top trapper hats.
He didn’t exactly send a King’s Guard down the runway but the sentiment was there.
In Lee’s Burberry, the quintessential English woman is dressed ready for anything, whether it be an all night rave at Soho’s The Box club, tramping through the moors, or sitting front row at fashion week.
But it wasn’t just British-isms Lee explored on the runway, it was carried over to the front row too. From Lee’s muse and long-term supporter Rosie Huntington-Whiteley on a date night with husband Jason Statham, to Jodie Comer and Stormzy rubbing shoulders, London’s glitterati was out in full swing tonight.
While the collection showed some remnants of Tisci’s tenure, mainly his Givenchy-era grunge aesthetic, graphic t-shirts and Rochester-esque prints Tisci explored in the SS23 show, it’s clear that Lee is well and truly making Burberry his own.
His greatest achievement yet? Not showing a single piece in Burberry’s signature beige colourway. Lee’s future is bright, and so is Burberry’s as it seems.
See marie claire Australia’s favourite looks from Daniel Lee’s debut collection for Burberry below:
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