Iconic British fashion houses Vivienne Westwood and Burberry recently joined forces in a collaborative collection released this week. The collection is a celebration of British style and heritage and takes inspiration from Vivienne Westwood iconic collections reimagined from a unisex Burberry approach. From double-breasted and hugger jackets to mini kilts, lace up platforms and berets, all is featured in Burberry’s iconic vintage checkered print. The campaign for the collection features a flavourful cast of names like Kate Moss, Sistren, LadyFag , DelaRosa, Vivienne Westwood , Andreas Kronthaler among others, shot in London by David Sims. The designers of the houses were united by a vision to support and promote a UK non-profit organisation called Cool Earth which works alongside rainforest communities. Four exclusive items from the collection will be auctioned off to raise further support for the organisation along with an oversized T-shirt included in the collection with a handwritten message from Vivienne dedicated to the charity.
Londoners: if you only do one thing before 27 September – make it this.
To mark the release and subsequent immediate sale of its SS17 collection, British heritage brand Burberry has joined forces with The New Craftsmen to bring a pop-up curated artisan haven to Soho for one week only: Makers House.
Free to the public, and with the addition of a scaled-down version of the brand’s Regent Street eatery Thomas’s, which is set pouring out onto a picturesque courtyard dotted with busts and sculptures, the exhibition is a celebration of the craft and inspiration behind the latest collection. The clothes themselves are also situated in glorious catwalk formation to be browsed and bought at leisure on the first floor.
With interactive displays from the roster of The New Craftsmen represented makers, working away on their individual trades, such as sculpture, embroidery and silk-screen printing, the show spans a series of rooms inspired by Nancy Lancaster’s interiors, referencing prints from the SS17 collection.
In addition to all this, there are interactive elements, such as daily readings from a hand-picked selection of actors and actresses, each of which are based around Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, which was a poignant note of reference for spring summer. There is also a photographic studio, in which visitors can receive a professional portrait of their time at the event, but be warned: the queues are long and it tends to shut early each day.
Overall, however, it is an immersive and memorable discovery – nestled away from the continuous hustle of the city. And more than deserving of your time.
Burberry’s Makers House is located at 1 Manette Street, London, W1D 4AT – and runs until 27 September 2016. Opening hours are 10am-7pm and entry is free.
For as long as one can remember, men’s fashion has been inextricably linked – and obviously inspired by – music. So it was particularly significant that the autumn winter 2016 menswear shows that recently took over the fashion capitals of the world fell in the shadow of David Bowie’s tragic death.
David Bowie was not just a music icon, he was a cultural revolution. And it is hard, nay almost impossible, to find a single designer who has not paid reference to his work at some point in their career. From the likes of Burberry to Alessandro Michele at Gucci – this season’s AW16 shows were full of acknowledgements for the late star. The former had little time to do anything other than react to the news, and so models were sent down the runway with glitter shadowing their eyes, and even ‘Bowie’ scrawled across exposed palms. While a few days later at Gucci, a simple cardigan was emblazoned with the singer’s name, which is no surprise as it was the Italian fashion house who sponsored the V&A’s 2012 retrospective of his life and style.
But David Bowie, at heart of all the glitter, hair, disguise and self-expression, was a lad from Brixton. A south London boy who knew how to wear a skinny-cut suit. And as such, it was Paul Smith who really knew how to show his creative thanks with his AW16 offering.
Featuring a melee of those aforementioned skinny suits, ankle boots which snuggly snaked their way up trouser cuffs, paisley motifs and bold stripes which adorned both outwear and cashmere knits – it was a riot of British street style from the late ’60s and early ’70s. See how it all played out – but more importantly listen to the soundtrack which so perfectly accompanied it – below.
Best of British: this is an ethos that has always emanated from luxury brand Burberry. But it is now taking this one step further with the addition of a café, featuring an all-British menu from Rocket Food. The café is already under construction in its 121 Regent Street store. While a restaurant belonging to a major design house isn’t new (see Armani, Ralph Lauren and Bulgari), Burberry’s space will have the edge thanks to its plans for a gifting area.
On 6 November, Kate Moss and Cara Delevingne unveiled a new creative concept that saw Burberry take over the windows, façade and atrium of the iconic Parisian department store, Printemps. Burberry did something undeniably brilliant by pairing Kate and Cara together for a host of ad campaigns, but this latest venture is enchanting all by itself.
‘The Magical Christmas Journey by Burberry’ is the story of a little boy and his teddy bear, as they make the journey from the flagship Burberry store on Regent Street to the Printemps store in the heart of Paris. The eleven windows feature a cast of handmade puppets – the little boy, his teddy and Printemps’ exclusive Bubsy characters – wearing items from the Burberry limited edition Printemps collection.
Ten beautifully executed scenes allow you to follow the little boy as he flies over the English countryside, crossing the Channel on an upturned Burberry umbrella. He and his bear help the Busby puppets sort Christmas gifts before alighting on the roof of the Printemps store and forming a Christmas Choir, and finally, settling at the Christmas table surrounded by Burberry gifts and evening wear.
Social media, too, is being leveraged to make this an extra-special display. Using smartphones, visitors are able to interact with the individual scenes and control their own vantage points, create their bespoke journey and send images from the built-in cameras within the windows directly to their phones. The beautifully festive scene can instantly be turned into a digital postcard, which can then be shared across social media. And for those who aren’t able to visit Paris, the journey can be seen on Burberry’s streams on Twitter and Facebook.
Festivity aside, the display marks the launch of the exclusive Burberry collection of limited edition pieces which have been designed for Printemps, including ready-to-wear, trench coats, accessories, special gifts and collector’s items which all feature in the window displays, as well as Burberry Beauty gifts and the My Burberry fragrance and make up box sets.
As the fashion pack heads to Milan, we look back at the Burberry SS15 show from London Fashion Week. Titled The Birds & The Bees, Christopher Bailey’s vision for spring featured butterfly and honey bee motifs, along with bright bold font designs. Those same prints were hand-painted on the runway and plastered on the transparent roof, further illustrating Bailey’s inspirations. The Mac, more than just a Burberry staple, came in denim, suede or satin, and some were cropped or flared. And of course, everything was tied in a cute tulle sash bow.
This season Burberry partnered up with YouTube, giving us unrivalled access to the SS15 show highlights and much more. Watch the video below.
Matches, the very British luxury shopping destination, with an exciting international outlook are renowned for their dedication to creativity and originality, as well as bringing the most globally sought after designers to their customer. With their fashion exclusives including the likes of Burberry Prorsum, Saint Laurent and Azzedine Alaia, it’s the place to buy key wardrobe hits every season.
For the upcoming AW they have the perfect arm candy on offer, from cool classics to cutting edge, and we’ve chosen the favourites from matchesfashion.com.
The bag above the text is the Pelican satchel bag by Alexander Wang.
Words by: Felicity Carter
Balenciaga, Giant City bag
Bao Bao Issey Miyake, Lucent shopper
Burberry Prorsum, Blaze studded patent-leather bag
Tom Ford’s new make up hits counters this autumn. Though I’ve seen nothing as yet apart from the lipsticks. Little samples or information has been made available. It’s typically Fordian to be so tightly controlling of the press coverage. Much as I love the existing lipstick range especially the white and gold packaging (very old Hollywood), I feel a little ambivalent about two things: the price point and the USP.
Firstly, the whole range is likely to be expensive considering the lipsticks alone are £35. For the same price you could buy a dress in New Look, Top Shop or Zara and even an outfit in Primark or Peacocks.
My second question mark here is: is there room for another cosmetics line in the marketplace? Burberry and D&G have both joined the melee in recent years which makes a lot of luxury make up lines out there. And how much of a market is there for this sort of ultra expensive product? Competitor-wise there’s Serge Lutens make up which is gorgeous but even more eye-wateringly expensive than Tom Ford and then Shiseido’s other superluxurious brand Cle De Peau which has been withdrawn from the UK – presumably due to lack of a market. Still, we wait with bated beauty breath.
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