What to remember about Daniel Lee’s first Burberry show?

A knight on a sturdy horse rides towards the left, carrying a large flag with the letter B on it. This conquering image, which has been Burberry’s historic logo since 1901, has reappeared a few weeks ago as part of the house’s image after a five-year absence. That symbol is a strong signal of the new direction taken by Daniel Lee since his appointment as the new creative director of the British fashion house last October, a year after he left Bottega Veneta. Presented yesterday in a marquee installed for the occasion in a park in London, the first Burberry collection signed by the British designer clearly states his ambitions – to celebrate the vast heritage of this historic house, while taking it further.

Burberry’s traditional codes revisited by Daniel Lee

Daniel Lee has not hesitated to capture Burberry’s historical codes right from the start. As one of the pieces that has made the house internationally famous for decades, the trench coat is revamped in the very first outfits made for this Fall/Winter 2023-2024 collection. Embellished with fir green or purple fur collars, available in oversized cuts and a dark palette, these first variations move away from Burberry’s signature beige color. Further on, however, the beige trench coat has been deconstructed to become a safari dress or a shirt tucked into matching trousers under a raincoat. Daniel Lee even unveils an ingenious dress that brings the back of the trench to the front, and vice-versa, to end the piece around the neck. Following in the footsteps of his predecessors Christopher Bailey and Riccardo Tisci, the British designer reinvents the legendary Burberry tartan in a large, oblique, and all-over version on suits, turtleneck jumpers, pencil skirts, coats, and woolen wide trousers, all in unique tones – first purple, then burgundy, yellow, and finally blue on white.
 

A new romantic wardrobe draped in nobility

As this deep autumnal color palette suggests it, the new Burberry collection infuses the house with a romantic, even melancholic, and ultra-British touch that contrasts with the urban image brought by Riccardo Tisci between 2018 and 2022. This new spirit is noticeable in the Tudor rose print – a British emblem and a nod to the house’s eponymous perfume – that adorns several pieces, as well as in the fiery feather assemblages by Lemarié that decorates a crop top and a coat. Aside from these ornamentations, the wide cape-inspired scarves wrapped around the shoulders, the asymmetrical dresses cut in light and airy fabric at times, or in woolen cloth tied around the waist, the trousers falling elegantly over the shoes, compose a comfortable wardrobe, whose fluidity and noble accent may sometimes recall the spirit of the house of Prada. However, this silhouette discreetly contrasts from some of the masculine ensembles, which put a greater emphasis on the outerwear – printed T-shirts, hiking boots, and oversized jackets with furry hats sketch out the image of a chic trapper that naturally fits in with the rest of the collection.
 

Warm and functional accessories 

Echoing the house’s identity, which historically specialized in rainwear, the Burberry man and woman by Daniel Lee are equipped for wet and cold environments. The first look of this Fall/Winter 2023-2024 collection displays a hot water bottle covered with a tartan wool sheath carried like a minaudière, while fur quickly makes an entrance on hoods, collars, huge hats, and covers heeled sandals or even hangs from several leather shoulder bags. Among zippers on trousers and pairs of rubber boots worn by several models, the house’s new collection offers a range of functional pieces suitable for expeditions into the wild and keeps adding to the nomadic style of the gentleman farmer developed by the house over the years. The duck is set up as the symbol of a peaceful country life and tenfold in yellow or rogue on black in an all-over print. It even takes the shape of a funny woolen hat. Already displayed in every shop window of the house for a few days, the recently reintroduced historic Burberry logo invades an elegant dress and white coats with its royal blue. Perhaps is it subtle hint that the house has found its new knight in shining armor in Daniel Lee?