On the final evening of London Fashion Week, Burberry took the fashion set out into the outdoors with a collection that riffed on nostalgia in all elements of the production.
Here, everything you need to know about Burberry's autumn/winter 2024 collection.
The Influences
The Bradford-born creative director, Daniel Lee, was this season inspired by Burberry's heritage as an outfitters providing clothes for the great outdoors. 'I wanted this collection to feel warm and protective,' he said. This came through in the concerted effort to focus on the functional, with warm wrap-around coats rendered in different fabrications including those made up in British and Irish wools pulling focus to British craftsmanship.‘There’s a sense of craft in this collection,' Lee added. 'We began in the Burberry archive and the mills of Lochcarron and Donegal. I wanted to take a traditional approach to the fabrics and how each piece is made. Craftsmanship has always been at the heart of design.’
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The Collection
It was out with the royal blue of Burberry's recent seasons and in with a new palette that spoke of Lee's countryside inspirations. Khaki greens, tonal browns and navy blues lead the line up to evoke a sense of nature. Protective outerwear was less technical, and more cosy, summoning a feeling of warmth and 'outdoorsy elegance.' Think duffle coats and field jackets with shearling, braided fringing and fleecy wools offering a tactile finish any winter walk would be all the better for.
Lee also explained that when creating the collection he'd considered the people of the UK and Ireland within the Burberry world. So, it made sense that he was looking back. The return of the Nova check, worn in headscarves for him and her, felt something of an homage to perhaps Burberry's once most-famous customer, the late Queen Elizabeth II. The same can be said of the kilts, though here they were warn spliced to the thigh and floor length. Lee also looked to another era of Burberry's past, with the overall mood reminiscent of the mid-Noughties Burberry heyday that recentred the heritage house. Spot it in the shearling or the leather jackets, or in the styling tricks where funnel necks were fixed high, or in the abandoning of last season's prints and florals to focus on the house's checks instead. Besides this focus on outerwear, there were pretty moments of fragility too, where the contrast of these cocooning coats was able to be juxtaposed with cocktails dresses that glistened from under the outerwear, styled with oversized bags and chunky stalk-ready boots.
The Casting
There was no stronger link between Lee's AW24 and the Burberry of Burberry's past than with the casting. Agyness Deyn, who was deeply intrenched in the world of Christopher Bailey's 17-year-long tenure through the Noughties and into the 2010s, opened the show and was then followed by Lily Cole, Karen Elson, Lily Donaldson, Edie Campbell, Malaika Firth, Jean Campbell and Neelam Gill, all British women who all have a strong link with the house as is. Others made more contemporary gains on being part of Burberry's new-wave Brit gang with models Fran Summers, Giselle Norman, Alva Claire and Kai-Isaiah Jamal walking.
Burberry regularly sets the precedent for new faces, with this show proving no different. New runway names of note included 17-year-old East London girl Rey, while Phoebe Philo's daughter, Maya Wigram, also made a catwalk foray. Not to forget that Lee was once Philo's right hand for a full-circle fashion moment.
Saving the best until last, ELLE UK cover star Naomi Campbell closed the finale of the show in one of its bedazzling evening gowns.
The Music
With a much-anticipated Amy Winehouse biopic, Back To Black, set to be released in April, Lee opted to use the late artist's music to soundtrack for an added jolt of mid-Noughties nostalgia. Amongst her most familiar songs was audio clippings of Winehouse talking, expressing her love for her hometown London, before her haunting vocals took hold.
The Front Row
As anticipated, Burberry brought together the great and the good of the fashion, entertainment and sport industries. Dame Olivia Colman lead the line-up making her debut on the house's front row wearing a classic Burberry trench with a wide-leg tartan jumpsuit under, followed soon by fellow Dame, Dame Joanna Lumley. Man-of-the-moment Callum Turner arrived sans Dua Lipa, styled in a chic all-black look by ELLE UK contributor Ben Schofield and so was his co-star and new Burberry loyalist Barry Keoghan who followed up last night's all-Burberry BAFTA look with a beige ensemble, complete with box-fresh Nikes.
Cara Delevingne, Jourdan Dunn and Leomie Anderson all opted to swap the Burberry catwalk for its front row instead, while the link between the sports industry and the house was further certified with campaign stars Ramla Ali and Bukayo Saka in attendance alongside Welsh football star Gareth Bale.
The flag was flown by music scene too, with Lil Simz, Central Cee, Kano, Dizzee Rascal, Lily Allen, Loyle Carner, Tiwa Savage, Skepta and Eve all turning out in support of Lee.
The Set
In keeping with recent seasons, Burberry set up camp in another park in the British capital. This time it was East London's Victoria Park, the situation for countless music festivals in the summer months. With the collection inspired by the great outdoors, Lee opted to line his catwalk with a gravelled floor, while guests perched on camping-like pillowy seats underneath a night-sky black tent complete with Burberry flags that turned it from a large-scale Duke of Edinburgh expedition to something all together more medieval.
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