Cover Backstage at the Burberry fall/winter 2023 fashion show, marking Daniel Lee’s debut at the British brand. (Photo: Getty Images)
Backstage at the Burberry fall/winter 2023 fashion show, marking Daniel Lee’s debut at the British brand. (Photo: Getty Images)
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Ducks and roses and all the details we loved from Lee’s colourful Burberry debut at London Fashion Week
The era of Burberry beige is over. Daniel Lee, previously the creative director of Bottega Veneta and now at the helm of Burberry, made that much clear at his first fashion show for the British brand at London Fashion Week.
Instead of a bland landscape, Lee’s debut was a riot of colour, something that hasn’t been seen on Burberry’s runway perhaps since its former designer Christopher Bailey dedicated his last collection to the LGBTQ+ community. Lee picked out yellows, reds, purples and Yves Klein blue, and gleefully paired them together. That was the first surprise.
The second surprise was that Lee’s Burberry looked nothing like Lee’s Bottega Veneta. At the latter, he applied everything he had learned as the right-hand man to Phoebe Philo at Céline; he refashioned the Italian luxury brand into a symbol of chic minimalism, offering up slinky dresses, relaxed tailoring and an array of striking bags and shoes as catnip to fashion influencers and celebrities.
Don't miss: Phoebe Philo is launching her new fashion brand in September
Above Photo: Getty Images
Above Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images
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At Burberry, Lee is betting big on coats instead. He transformed the brand’s quintessential trench coat with faux fur lapels—practical and posh. There were cosy blanket coats that served as the canvas for Burberry’s Equestrian Knight logo, which Lee had recently revived through his first campaign for the brand.
Even more exciting were the gigantic duffle coats, adorned with Burberry checks that Lee had blown up. (It’s the same supersizing trick he had previously pulled with Bottega Veneta’s signature intrecciato weave.) Those checks also appeared on blazers, bomber jackets, tights, scarves, and styled with argyle knits like the sweater modelled by Iris Law.
Above Photo: Getty Images
Above Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images
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Above Photo: Getty Images
Above Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images
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Lee’s emphasis on outerwear spoke for itself. After all, what could be more British than a collection that will protect you from all manner of bad weather? But Lee also expressed Burberry’s English heritage through his choice of graphics, some of which were inspired by what he had found in the brand’s century-old fabric books.
For example, the collection featured dresses and car coats covered in English rose prints, evoking Dries Van Noten’s romantic designs. They bloomed in hues of deep purple and red, matching the aforementioned checks.
Seemingly more arbitrary are the swimming ducks. These were rendered in bright colours and repeated to create a quirky pattern for the collection. As Lee told WWD, the bird “makes me think of the park”. The motif was a surprisingly playful touch from the British designer, and it felt less forced than the animal prints and motifs that had peppered his predecessor Riccardo Tisci’s Burberry designs.
Above Photo: Getty Images
Above Iris Law (Photo: Getty Images)
Photo: Getty Images
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The duck even featured prominently on one of the many trapper hats in the collection. Those hats were paired with (faux) furry bags, which are one of Lee’s proposals to distinguish Burberry in the competitive world of luxury bags. Other promising offerings include sleek leather shoulder bags, and mini crossbody bags with tassels.
Like the bags, the shoes were an interesting mix; models strutted in shearling sandals, fluffy faux fur mules and riding boots. Lee also brought back rubber rain boots, the waterproof footwear that he previously popularised with the Bottega Veneta Puddle Boot. As the designer himself explained to WWD: “Burberry is an outdoors brand associated with the rain and protection. The brand is about functionality.”
And with Lee at the helm, that’s anything but boring.
Above Photo: Getty Images
Above Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images
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Above Photo: Getty Images
Above Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images
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Above Close-up of a bag at the Burberry fall/winter 2023 fashion show. (Photo: Getty Images)
Above Close-up of a bag at the Burberry fall/winter 2023 fashion show. (Photo: Getty Images)
Close-up of a bag at the Burberry fall/winter 2023 fashion show. (Photo: Getty Images)
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Pameyla Cambe is the Assistant Digital Editor of Tatler Singapore. She handles the Fashion section of the website, where she reports on trends, the hottest fashion launches and what your favourite Asian celebrities are wearing.
