The Bite Magazine - Spring 2016 - Issue 15

RBERRY A bittersweet moment, Burberry did its best to present their celebratory collection in the wake of David Bowie’s death and paid tribute to the iconic music legend. Cristina Lloyd shares in the sentiments. U sually when a designer or brand puts on a catwalk show, they would use some form of backing music to create an atmosphere attaining to their collection. Burberry however decided to do things differently for their January 2016 presentation. As the models walked the collection enti- tled ‘Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue’, a set of requirements usually reserved for brides-to-be, 2015 Mercury prize winner and British singer-songwriter Benja- min Clementine performed live from the centre of the brand’s custom-built venue in London’s Kensington Gardens. Clementine was accompanied by a spe- cially created band including a cellist and The Libertines’ drummer Gary Powell and performed singles ‘Condolence’, ‘Nemesis’ and ‘Adios’ from his debut album At Least For Now. The full show soundtrack is now available to purchase through the iTunes store and for stream- ing through the Burberry Apple Connect page on Apple Music.The show and per- formance were also streamed live on the newly launched Burberry app for Apple TV, marking a first for a fashion brand on the platform.The Burberry app for Apple TV is the latest in a series of digital inno- vations that have been created between Burberry and Apple, and will be updated with additional live moments and exclu- sive content throughout the year. The collection celebrated the unification of the brand’s different ready-to-wear labels and styles and was viewed by over 700 guests including celebrities Steve McQueen, Brooklyn Beckham, Mark Ronson, Tinie Tempah, Jourdan Dunn, Nick Grimshaw, Toby Hunting- ton-Whiteley, Jack Guinness, David Gandy and Raffety Law. While the models walking the show and wearing glitter eye make-up in honour of David Bowie’s passing were made up of the brand’s current campaign stars: Sol Goss, Louie Johnson, Ruth and May Bell, Eliza Fairbanks, Hayett McCarthy and Chi- nese-Canadian singer and actor KrisWu who made his runway debut today.With styles consisting of outerwear shapes redefined for relaxed weekends, these included trench coats that Burberry is renowned for, duffle coats, topcoats, military pea coats and parkas, along- side a new bag shape ‘The Satchel’ and new shoe designs ‘The Driver’ and ‘The Derby’. Material-wise, the collection was created using wool felt, double-faced cashmere checks, double splittable cash- mere wool, wool mohair, wool tweed, cotton gabardine, washed denim and viscose jersey in colours of navy, black, white, deep green, military green, military red, claret, purple, camel, mustard, grey, honey and blue. Other silhouettes seen on the catwalk were bomber jackets, puffer jackets, field jackets, flight jackets, tailored jackets, wide pants, polo shirts and blue jeans. Burberry has long been an oasis of fashion since it was first founded in 1856 by 21-year old dressmaker Thomas Burberry and remains strong through its heritage of innovation, design and crafts- manship. Launching its app on Apple TV earlier this year, Burberry marked the occasion by live-streaming its Mens- wear show to audiences worldwide and became the first luxury brand to broad- cast a fashion show live on the platform. The Burberry app for Apple TV offers access to a collection of Burberry Acous- tic films from emerging British musicians, highlights from the brand’s previous runway shows and beauty tutorials by Burberry Make-Up Artistic Consultant Wendy Rowe. As a brand that embraces and promotes music as its lifeblood, Burberry’s CEO Christopher Bailey’s cel- ebration of the collection was tinged by the tragic news of David Bowie’s death. “It didn’t feel right to do a show that was celebratory today, when the news is so profoundly sad,” he said backstage at the Burberry show. Moved by the music legend’s death, Bailey decided to honour the man by having the models wear Zig- gy-esque stardust on their faces. “I was just going to put it on one male model and then suddenly they all wanted it.” There were perhaps accents of Bowie’s spectacular showman style in the sequinned track tops and trousers but in essence this was a message from the brand about combining its Prorsum, Brit and London lines into one master monolith. “It was about looking at how people dress now and how lots of dif- ferent worlds are merging together,” Bailey added. “I think technology is massively helping that and I wanted to address it with the show. It’s an age when everything is on Instagram, everything is about the big picture and it just felt right to do a very calm show, some- thing that was reassuringly familiar with a few odd things to surprise you.” This was displayed through the trench coats that were revived from the archives, restored in Yorkshire and re-imaged on the catwalk with nifty sports outfits while the military strand came alive with brass buttoned officers coats with epaulettes and piping in ceremonial red, with the latter evident on tracksuit trousers here and there. And staples of argyle, chunky knits, tweeds and checked jackets paid homage to Burberry’s archly British sense of substantial winter dressing and provided a truly spectacular showcase to honour the heritage of a long-standing brand. www.burberry.com Men