An Editorial On Burberry

July 30th, 2019

I love Burberry. It is a great brand and has done many good things in fashion. They created an entire collection to support LGBTQ rights and were one of the early brands to stop using fur in their collections. So, I thought it might be interesting to look into the brand and where it plans to go since they brought Ricardo Tisci in as the new creative director.

The iconic English brand Burberry is known for its industrial Victorian look with hints of patterns and colors. This ranges from a trench coat similar to the original look created post World War I and a check pattern immediately recognizable by the most casual of onlookers.

The look Burberry curated over the years is rooted in what the creator, Thomas Burberry, drew inspiration from. He noticed the middle class in England struggling to find all-weather clothing that could withstand the harsh English climate's wear and tear, so he created a fabric and clothing brand that every person in England could benefit from. The fabric Burberry created is known as Gabardine, and it is weatherproof and durable, making it perfect for the English people. Since then, the brand has released every collection featuring the Gabardine Trench Coats and ‘ready to wear’ articles.

The ready-to-wear goes back to the point that Burberry wanted to create clothing that people could wear year-round. This comes into play with the massive amount of streetwear that Burberry creates. Unlike Gucci, which likes to print bold colors, or Versace, which boasts ornate designs, Burberry’s lineup usually consists of more subtle businesswear and streetwear. The subtleness brings a sense of English class to their lineup by remaining understated with hints of color. Streetwear like t-shirts and sweatshirts also lets more people experience Burberry because we wear casual clothes far more often than business or formal wear. The amount of high-fashion streetwear the brand creates brings more and more consumers into their market and demonstrates the by-and-for-people ideology.

The addition of Riccardo Tisci as the new creative director brought a more riské darker look that resonated with a younger audience. Tisci also overhauled some of the traditional pieces, like the trench coat and logo, by adding oranges and reds to the check pattern as well as crafting an entire new boldface type logo. This overhaul symbolizes a break from the subtler to a bolder look in order to reach a new demographic of people.

Peter Seville, a well-known graphic designer, created the new logo. His boldface type lettering stands out much more than the old equestrian logo. The design, which was inspired by the Calvin Kline logo, follows the new trend in fashion with more prominent logos on clothing articles. Tisci pushes a tradition-oriented brand by incorporating new trends faster and better than some of his predecessors.

One other thing the brand has done to bring in a new demographic is by using an incredibly popular model whom many young people know. For example, Gigi Hadid was part of the brand's new ‘Monogram’ campaign. Using someone so famous with a younger generation helped the brand reach new people.

Currently, the brand is still evolving, growing, and changing, and it will be exciting to follow.

Always Busy,

Sam