Burberry Has Entered its Water Bottle Girl Era
I’m sure I’m not alone when I say it took me several attempts to palette the latest Burberry collection debuting English designer Daniel Lee as creative director. Leading up to the show, Lee had claimed that he hoped to “return the brand to its British roots,” and dare I say he succeeded, though not in the way that I initially expected.
The highly anticipated event took place right outside The Oval Stadium in London—home of the innately British sport, cricket. Hot toddies and thick blankets decorated every seat, transporting guests into the cold and dreary British countryside, a nod to Lee’s own rural British upbringing. Lee reported to journalists after the show that he wanted to “celebrate what was great about the country.”
But while Lee’s return to Burberry’s British roots was not as traditional as one may have expected, they certainly referenced British heritage in a way that will catapult Burberry into the modern day. Lee’s Burberry featured edgier, more youthful pieces like utilitarian “just-thrown-on” outerwear and loose-fitting skirts with a bias check, resembling a picnic blanket.
And it wouldn’t be a British collection if it didn’t capture the perfectly bizarre spirit of British eccentricity, which Lee demonstrated with a hilarious duck-shaped bonnet, hand-knitted with a beak and little red legs. He incorporated this duck motif several times throughout the collection in a graphic duck print, perhaps another reference to the Yorkshire moors and life in the British countryside. “I thought that was funny. You have to have a bit of humor,” he announced to enthusiastic journalists backstage.
But one accessory in particular that caught my attention was the checked hot water bottle in the hands of a model dressed in an iconic Burberry trench lined in green faux fur. She was followed by several models all gripping variations of the hot water bottle. My favorite one had to be the one trimmed in mustard faux fur, worn with a matching trench and accompanying a leather bag in the same color.
When they said all eyes would be on accessories this season, this was certainly not what I expected, but I’m not upset about it. Water bottles may very well be the new hot accessory of the season, and I’m here for it.
Overall, the collection was unapologetically British—confrontational and contemporary—much like the insurrectionist Daniel Lee himself. “You know, it’s a change for me, change for the brand, and change for the positive thing,” Lee reveals to reporters. Is it the Burberry we expected? I definitely didn’t. But is it the Burberry we deserve? Without a doubt, yes.
Strike out,
Writer: Abby Martos
Editors: Madison Sloan and Ainsley McCullen
Saint Augustine
