LFW AW18 – A Sense of Poignancy at Burberry
24-04-2025
A sense of poignancy albeit celebration descended on the west London venue for what was to be Christopher Bailey’s final sartorial offering under the iconic British Burberry helm – an event that definitely wasn’t a discreet departure for the creative director, who has taken charge for the last 17 years.
A large amount of friends, family and guests attended the Autumn/Winter 2018 show to illustrate their love, support and adulation for the designer, a pivotal figure amid the fashion world. Bailey, Burberry’s president and chief creative officer who has showcased an amalgam of trends that has over his almost 2-decade helm designed a number of established looks that the fashion world has adopted as revolutionary and exclusive to the brand.
“It’s quite a poignant collection just because it’s my last one, but it made me start thinking about the importance of time. I think we are living in such an interesting period, chaotic and upsetting and changing,” reflected Bailey before the show. “I wanted to try and reflect that in some way in the collection.”
His final show was presented in collaboration with United Visual Artists. The collection included elements that were drawn from the Burberry archives, encompassing the additional prints that hark back to the Sixties and Seventies, and not eliminating looks from the Eighties also. “It’s a real mishmash of things,” explained the designer. “A mélange of all of that. The sentiment of the show is about the future and how exciting and positive it is. I hope it is. I’m an optimist, my glass is half full.”
Reissued pieces from the Eighties and Nineties also featured, with Burberry further promoting its Rainbow Check collection, a fundamental charity that supports the LGBTQ association, or lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, youths, in store now.
The psychedelic aesthetic featured substantially throughout, imbuing a street wear and retro zeitgeist, which included oversized zip-front jackets, baggy shell suits and check jackets that revisited the brands chav period. Greatest hits created by Bailey included his great military coats, ponchos, capes, aviator jackets infused with shearling and shimmery cocktail dresses. Rainbow flourishes added to long, white shirts and dresses, paint splodges decorated wool sweaters and coats and not forgetting the rainbow trailing patchwork cape with signature check lining, modelled by Cara Delevingne.
Words by Kate Farley
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