LFW – Burberry S/S2020: Evolution

Riccardo Tisci’s first season at Burberry was all about absorbing and understanding the history of the great British fashion house and determining how his particularly Italian style sensibilities could be adapted to take the brand into the future.  Now, for his second summer collection, it seems he’s found his sweet spot.  The call has gone out and it’s time to embrace the Evolution of Burberry.  As the man himself explains:

“In the archive, I discovered this beautiful story at the origin of our past. Thomas Burberry was a young pioneer and a self-made man who built his company during the Victorian era – a time in Britain for great change and progress, an era that has always inspired me and my work.  He chose to present his company with an emblem of a knight on a horse, but for his family crest, he instead chose a unicorn.  Thomas Burberry was a daring innovator but also a romantic and a dreamer.

This is the story behind this collection, a collection inspired by our past and dedicated to our future.  It’s the evolution of our Burberry kingdom.” – Riccardo Tisci.

Taking great inspiration from that well documented Victorian era, Tisci presented an innovative collection that mixed the vintage with the cutting edge in fashion.  Immaculate tailoring has always been one of the hallmarks of Burberry and this show season was no different.  The first thing new thing to note on this evolutionary road, however, was the near absence of the familiar Burberry check throughout the collection.  Apart from the merest glimpses of it lining one or two of the trench coats, it was clear there had been a deliberate move away from making it the core pattern of the collection.  Instead we were treated to classic pieces with exotic twists – like comfortable suiting with contrast white piping to highlight oversized pockets on skirts and collars on jackets.

The colour palette was decidedly cool for the coming summer heat as well.  White, black, slate grey, dark grey and the familiar trench coat cream dominated throughout and reflected  Tisci’s preferred era of inspiration and complemented the set design perfectly.  Simple blouses in muted colours were given a 21st century edge with the addition of extra long tassels to the cuffs to make a completely new and unique silhouette for next season.  Knee length skirts came with the same, slightly shorter tassel detailing.  Dresses were designed to make the wonderful sleeve shapes the new focal points for your attention.

Billowing sleeveless silk shirts over loose tapered trousers made us all look forward to warm evening breezes.

The few injections of colour came by way of the splashes in graphic prints seen on skirts, shirts and scarves.

There were belted suits, hypnotic black and white check patterns, coats that seemed to morph into silk wraps the further down you looked – it was an extraordinary collection with more little treasures to discover than even Indiana Jones could dig up.   At the very least, we’ll have the time to draw up a detailed map before next summer.

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