It all goes down to Utility at Burberry

Milan Fashion Week S/S 2010: A look from the recent Burberry collection (photo: Catwalking)

The fashion world has started its seasonal routine all over again leaning toward spring next year.  The calendar of fashion shows kicks off at the Milan fashion week starting in the men’s department. Burberry Prorsum, as I’ve heard shall be celebrating its anniversary later in September and while its edging closer, Mr. Christopher Bailey, the creative director of the luxury brand presented another Spring/Summer collection which I simply cannot ignore.  To my opinion there was nothing strangely fantastical about the show, the kind of  somber mood that was reflected in its previous collections, it was nevertheless a generous outpouring of real and modern clothes.  I believe Mr. Bailey put into consideration the Burberry man in its contemporary period….this was all part of a main plot.  That plot started last year if I can recall those exquisitely handpainted cashmere sweaters…those slovenly scrungy cardigans that appeared in the summer…and then those true blue burberry checks last fall…now everything seems to be meeting at a singular point – Utility.  In fact the show started with Snowpatrol’s Chasing Cars…it was not a thematic show and forget those cheesy but all melodramatic british soundtracks from the past.  More critically there were looks that very much resembled his older collection….like that knitted cardigan which is now more refined than before…the lightweight breezy shirts from the past now more ambigous (shirts in draped straps)…. and all the luxuriously poetic silk brocade shirts and pants from the nostalgic past now economized to modern wearable separates that are practically Utilitarian.

Burberry raincoats in primary colors (photo: style.com)

And the water coats, they are as a coat should be…but in primary colors.

Christopher Bailey

Mr. Bailey’s new proposition of a burberry man I think answers the questions of keeping a bright outlook  for such a dismal economic climate.  So smart indeed, eventhough this collection was not atypically inspired.  Now the vision of Burberry is like a gradation from a monochromatic neutral blur….to a decisively bold pop color.