Whenever Fashion Week rolls around, we always rely upon Burberry to do something unexpected. This season, the Burberry Prorsum SS16 show, held in London’s Hyde Park, was certainly no disappointment, replete with digital wow moments and a beautiful collection, to boot.
There were, perhaps not surprisingly, several digital firsts. Burberry added a new leaf to its own hefty book of digital innovation through the unveiling of its entire SS16 collection on Snapchat at 7:00pm GST the night before the actual runway show. Then, right before and during the show, Sephora streamed a catwalk beauty tutorial live on YouTube, also a Fashion Week first.
At the runway show itself, entertainment was not in short shrift. Front row celebrities included the expected Burberry clan, including Cara Delevigne, Kate Moss, Cara Delevingne, Suki Waterhouse, and Jourdan Dunn, as well as Benedict Cumberbatch, Sienna Miller and Paloma Faith.
But the real entertainment came in the form of bluesy former electro-pop British singer-songwriter Alison Moyet, who performed some of her favourite hits, including All Cried Out, Only You and Whispering Your Name, all accompanied by a 32-piece orchestra. Moyet’s deep, soulful voice added an emotive backdrop to an already narrative spring/summer collection.
Suffice to say, Christopher Bailey is once again ahead of the mark with the Burberry Spring/Summer 2016 collection, titled FUNCTIONREGALIA, which has a free-spirited Millennial vibe to it. This season’s must-have piece was a back-to-school perfect nylon floppy backpack with a leather buckle that each model sported with her own initials. The colour palette was almost naval with crisp creams, navy and black mixed with lovely golds and nude.
There were floaty, semi-sheer long dresses with lace and embroidered and lace details. But, the most ooh-ah pieces were the coats. There were lace trenches with sporty mesh accents, the ideal black pea coat, an officer jacket with gold buttons and an unabashedly cool leather moto jacket with gold trim.
All in all, it was a forward-looking, cohesive and, more importantly, immensely wearable collection, for which many pieces would take you easily from summer into fall.
by Jessica Quillin
Images courtesy of Burberry