Christopher Bailey now occupies two pivotal roles at Burberry: chief creative officer and chief executive. With that, he has implemented several different strategies to combine aesthetic with commerce, including customizations and instant shopping; from live stream to your American Express bill (of course, it won’t ship for months). Though what his spring/summer 2015 collection displayed were several iterations of a tulle dress, denim jacket, and English-woven trench coat. Alas, Insta-shopping just became a hindrance.
What Bailey has successfully capitalized on, is that his shows always have some kind of idyllic ambience, and this resonates with consumers. This season, the Burberry Prorsum girl displayed signs of youthfulness, with almost adolescent-like characteristics—sneakers, cropped denim jackets, and frilly homecoming dresses. The collection did blossom into adulthood, at times, as dense ruffled skirts became completely sheer and fitted. Furthermore, pale colors often paraded toward rich hues: there were a handful of dresses that were that kind-of Van Gogh yellow and deep, deep blue.
Burberry Prorsum spring/summer 2015
With few looks at the beginning, Bailey reverted back to the Burberry heritage shearling, adding small trimmings on coats. There was one look, a boxy shearling coat with leather hardware, worn by Binx Walton that stuck out like a sore thumb on the catwalk, and would even exceed the coldest spring evening.
It seems—as of recently—that Bailey has banked on adding quirky and dainty touches to his garments like hand painted signage reading, “flowers” and “summer.” His finale, which was comprised of the usual gabardine trench coats, were reimagined in this sort of hand-painted, 1940s book cover typography. Perhaps here, the designer reimagines that classic Burberry trench, exalting it to become something both aesthetically and commercially desirable. Maybe, just maybe, the trench is blossoming into adulthood, too.
Burberry Prorsum spring/summer 2015
