There was a calm assuredness about Daniel Lee’s sophomore runway show at Burberry today. So while there were no duck hats this time around, the spring/summer 2024 offering included a new signature print (metal hardware comprising a knight clip, shield, and ‘b’ buckles) and a new signature colour (knight blue) — plus lots of statement outerwear. Outerwear is the British heritage label’s bread-and-butter after all, and this Burberry collection had it in spades: from chainlink print motos and pleated chiffon cardigan jackets to iridescent trench coats cut from an archival sunshade fabric designed to reflect the sun’s rays.
The Venue:
In keeping with Burberry’s love for the great outdoors, the show was held in a massive white tent in Highbury Fields near Lee’s north London home. Walking through the park to the venue you could actually hear birds chirping.
The Music:
It wasn’t all pastoral. Lee is a big electronic music fan — at Bottega Veneta he was famous for staging shows in techno meccas like Detroit and Berlin — and here the Dean Blunt-produced soundtrack kept the models moving along the green carpet.
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The Casting:
Burberry always delivers major star power on — and off —the runway. Liberty Ross, Adwoa Aboah, Jean and Edie Campbell, Leomie Anderson, Karen Elson, Adut Akech, Soo Joo Park, Mona Tougaard, and Sora Choi all walked. But the audience might have been most excited about the shirtless male model who closed the show.
The Front Row:
Naomi Campbell, Jourdan Dunn, Georgia May Jagger, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Jodie Comer, Rachel Weisz, Gabrielle Union, Kylie Minogue, Neneh Cherry, Shygirl, and TEMS all numbered amongst the Burberry faithful assembled.
The Collection:
The hardware motif appeared in more than a third of the looks and Lee’s new true blue hue also featured prominently: on trench coats, in colour-washed strawberry prints, threaded through micro-sequin embroidery patterns on T-shirt dresses, and even on the soles of shoes. About the footwear: Lee knows how to make fashion catnip accessories and the squared-toe, block-heeled thongs and barely-there sandals with straps laced through metal shields looked primed to be new hitmakers.
