Daniel Lee compares his work at Burberry to stocking a department store—it has to contain something to appeal to everyone. That’s the job that pre-collections do more than anything else, and this one is absolutely product-packed with items that carry Burberryness down to the minutest detail. From the beginning, Lee has been as laser-focused on embedding that detail as he is on the overarching task of messaging the entire character of the brand.
“I think today’s consumer is captivated by a single product. People see something on social media or on a celebrity. And so that piece has to say everything about the brand.” We were talking through the collection in his new office in Soho, Lee zooming in on his iPad to show the subtle elements—abstracted shield-shapes (derived from the Burberry Prorsum knight) and tiny B-forms—that are in everything from belt-buckles to toe-caps to jewelry, right through into the shaping of the wind-shielding tab component of the trench coat that begins the look book.
To Lee, obvious, on-the-nose brand logos are a thing of the past, a point that fits the less show-offy feel of the times. “A more subtle, nuanced kind of branding. I think that’s the moment we’re in.” There’s a capacious “trench-bag” for example, “that has a pocket and strap that resembles coat components.” The tote—a properly useful design—runs from iterations in distressed canvas right up to glossy chestnut leather, the something-for-everyone principle embodied in a single item.
The question now—this is being asked across fashion in this time of world crises—exactly what clothes and accessories will people want to incorporate into their lives? “The overall sentiment that we wanted to give was a kind of relaxed outdoorsy elegance. Something that feels grown-up… and retains an idea of the outdoors and the ideas of comfort and warmth.”
It might be a chunky, teddy-bear-color aviator shearling jacket or coat. It might be solid-heeled riding boots made for urban rather than fell walking. Or, as the ultimate comfort object, the Burberry hot water bottle, making a comeback from Lee’s first season here.
His choice of the two blue-eyed kids—both recognizable scions of British dynasties—who stare into the camera in the look book signals a lot about Burberry culture in that if-you-know-you-know kind of way. There’s Jean Campbell, daughter of the Earl of Cawdor (yes, the actual Macbeth history) and Lennon Gallagher, musician son of Liam Gallagher of Oasis, the Brit Pop Mancunian working class phenomenon of the 1990s. The Burberry check—if you’re British—has streetwear connotations as well as posh-lady ones. Lee doesn’t have to study these things, he knows it instinctively.
“Burberry legitimately can be quite quiet and loud at the same time, I think,” he said, remembering his weekend trips to visit student friends at Manchester University, the indie club scene, and the looks it generated. “Parkas, cargo pants, and snap pants that everyone wore—there’s always a reference to street culture, because that’s how it was always worn.” Gallagher junior’s stance in his all-over Burberry check tracksuit emanates that attitude.
What next, though? Lee’s third runway collection for Burberry is just around the corner. He wasn’t giving much away—only a hint, which sprang out of another magnified inspection of an accessory. “It’s a hybrid welly combat boot,” he said. “It’s a bit of a direction for the next show.”
