Theme and inspiration

This season was inspired by the British countryside, or more specifically, by the habit of busy Londoners who decamp to the countryside to get a bit of rest and respite.

“Think of them as weekend escapees,” Lee said on the story behind the new winter collection. “It’s that great Friday night exodus from London to the countryside for long rainy walks and to disconnect in the great outdoors. It’s day-trips to grand stately homes. [It’s] that slightly eccentric, somewhat bohemian need to travel – weekend luggage, included.”

He found particular inspiration in the interiors of country houses and the juxtaposition of bringing these indoor fabrics outside – wallpaper and carpet prints covering the outerwear, while the colour palette was inspired by long walks on the Yorkshire Dales, where Lee hails from.

“We folded country house interiors into contemporary dress codes; and fused weather-shielding fabrics with elaborate wall-hangings,” he explained. “I was struck by the craftsmanship and those lavish fabrics and swatches of hand-painted wallpapers and of all the furnishing fabrics, handmade carpets and sumptuous, somewhat faded tapestries…There’s a deliberate tension and interplay between indoors furnishing fabrics – now seen outdoors.”

Also on his mood board for the season were depictions of this topic on screen. “We looked at tropes of classic British film and television and all their deeply layered social observations; these were all potent touchstones in the new collection.”

The setting

This season, Burberry decamped to the Tate Britain, an iconic London venue that the team felt was a perfect fit for the theme of the collection, as well as a nod to Burberry’s partnership with the gallery.

“Tate Britain is an unrivalled archive of incredible art, it made perfect sense to show with a British backdrop for a British brand, both celebrating British creativity,” said Lee. “Interestingly, the show also marks Burberry’s one-year partnership with Tate, and one, which supports vital conservation work at Tate Britain’s world-leading Painting Conservation Studios.”

Who was there?

The catwalk was almost as star-studded as the front row at this season’s show as Lee handpicked some of Britain’s most beloved actors to model the new collection. Names including Richard E Grant and Lesley Manville walked alongside big name British supermodels, Naomi Campbell and Erin O’Connor. With so much inspiration for the collection coming from British film and TV, it made sense to bring them onto the catwalk.

“It’s through incredible actors, and the films and TV they’ve appeared in, that we learn so much about the rules of dressing up,” Lee said on the casting. “Rules, which we’ve unpicked to inform the collection. Old rules made into new rules; indoors furnishing fabrics made into outdoor clothes. Our cast of actors just chimed with the bohemian irreverence. And, of course, they know how to make clothes come alive.”

On the front row was Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Jodie Turner-Smith, Geri Halliwell and Kim Cattrall.

Catch up on more highlights from London Fashion Week here.