London Women’s Fashion Week F/W 2019

Part 1: Burberry

No rain but sun in London yesterday. Maybe that was a good omen for the outerwear maker Burberry who provided the first highlight of the season with a show that focused on a lot more than raincoats.

Seems like Riccardo Tisci is starting to hit cruising altitude at Burberry. His new ad campaign is not shot by one but six photographers including our local talent Peter Langer from Berlin for the still life images. Tisci also brought back Nick Knight and new talents like Danko Steiner, Hugo Comte, Colin Dodgson and Letty Schmiterlow to create a multigenerational, multicultural campaign, which is just the way he likes it. As obsessed as he is with the image, casting and logo of a house, this show also proved that his extensive repertoire in designing women’s wear which includes subversive sex, gothic darkness, tribal tones, silk fantasies and of course Haute Couture was hugely beneficial for Burberry today. Tisci presented fantastic sportswear to open, followed by classic outerwear, tailoring and beautifully dresses. Dresses is a category Burberry was not known for under Christopher Bailey. His vision starts to gel and Tisci does not even seem harnessed by using mostly beige colors, the brand’s totem. In fact, he says he wants to own all shades of beige. One natural member in that color family is gold, which he featured in beautiful cocktail dresses. It seems that the push to position Burberry as a true luxury brand is well on its way.

Tiscis shades of beige: from a gold dress to classic tailoring.

His approach?

Looking at this second show, it seems clear that Tisci intends to divide Burberry into several sections: of course, street wear as in bombers, then outerwear as in the trench, beefed up tailoring for men and women, elements from active sports as seen in team jerseys and completely new women’s dresses with lots of body revealing details.

The collection featured everything. From streetwear and dresses to the classic trenchcoat.

Hallmark of a great designer?

While his announcement at Burberry first came as somewhat of a surprise, it was always clear that Tisci is a mega designer with strong personal signatures in the vein of Hedi Slimane or Karl Lagerfeld. His modus operandi at Givenchy after only two seasons was very much in his own image; so strong even that it has the power to transform the brand into a new age Brit Lux player. A feat few designers can pull off.

Tricks?

Tisci’s design universe of feminine form loving silhouettes, clever street and couture fusion plus deft fabric and color mixing has become immediately recognizable, as it’s personal.

The collection showed a mix of fabrics, colors and silhouettes.

The suiting?

While his men’s suits were traditional combining strong front-pleated pants with mostly single-breasted jackets layered with puffers, for women Tisci introduced a more bourgeois look with a jacket and knee high skirts.

Layering traditional coats and puffer jackets for men and lady-like looks for women.

The devil is in the detail?

The tailoring looked classic only on first inspection. All the looks featured worked out details like a women’s jacket in straight lines with the bottom part of the coat attached via zipper for silhouette elongating and visually arresting effect.

Haute Couture?

Tisci does not even rule out to show Haute Couture for Burberry when asked.