Olympians Keely Hodgkinson and Katarina Johnson-Thompson led the way as Daniel Lee unveiled his latest collection for Burberry at London Fashion Week, using the brutalist atrium of the National Theatre as a showspace. Other sporting stars in attendance included ex-England defender Rio Ferdinand and footballers Declan Rice, Marc Guéhi and Eberechi Eze. They were joined by Barry Keoghan, Olivia Colman, Jodie Turner-Smith, Jerry Hall and Patsy Kensit.
To add personality to the setting, Lee enlisted the help of YBA Gary Hume, whose teal, cut out tarpaulin artworks were draped throughout the venue. He liked the link between these waterproof plastic sheets and Burberry’s own signature gabardine trench coats, he explained backstage. In times of strife at Burberry, its trench, as well as Nova check, are friends — both took centre stage. That, for mens and womenswear, looked like the typical overcoats with their epaulettes intact but cut higher as light, spring jackets. Others, which were cinched at the waist, ended on the hip and featured four front facing pockets, had an attractive military quality.
Elsewhere waxy parkas — all very Oasis; a gaggle of Liam and Noel Gallagher’s children sat on the front row did not go unnoticed — had feather-trim hoods and worn atop showgirl, sparkling sequin party dresses in purple, modelled by Jean Campbell, and icey blue, worn by Lily Donaldson.
The rest of the collection swung wider, with shocks of orange in floor-length, floaty pleated skirts worn with squeezing, worn-looking leather jackets, after light moss wrap dresses, pale khaki slacks which ballooned at the knee and were tight around the ankle, and classic check tracksuits which will be a hit in-store.
“There is a consciousness of what we put down the runway. We want it to feel like a dream, but we also want it to feel like a real proposition,” Lee said backstage. “We are a huge ready-to-wear company. We need to find smart ways… to evolve it into something relevant to the store,” Lee said. Both he and Joshua Schulman, the former Coach boss who became CEO in July, will pray it hits the right note on the shop floor.
Another story played out in an East London townhouse later that evening. Showgoers filed into rising designer Paolo Carzana’s home, and took their seats in his garden for what was, certainly, one of those all-time memorable London fashion moments.
“I was living in social housing for two years and never had a sanctuary other than my studio, but recently I moved here with my partner … and knew the shared garden was the perfect place [for a show],” he said, on the road outside his house afterwards. Models had their hair and makeup done at the pub, changed in his bedroom, and lined up to walk up the stairs.
They scaled the garden steps hugged by fabrics hand-dyed with berries, indigo, and a host of other staining products Carzana could get his hands on before they were moulded, slither by slither, into contorted trousers, pirate-esque shirts, layered suits and sculptural headpieces made by fellow London designer and friend Nasir Mazhar.
The men opened, and women finished, ending with a peasant queen in a Comme des Garçons-esque bundle of quilted fabric which Carzana had coaxed into a bulbous skirt and jacket.
“I feel so out of place with all this idea of coolness. I just care about the clothes and the making and the creation of it. I’m trying to do something different” he said. People have taken note. Michaela Coel, specifically, whispered afterwards she had not attended anyone else’s show – but that Carzana was the best. “It was gorgeous,” she said. The tears in the audience, as his show closed London Fashion Week, were testament to that.
