FAULT MAGAZINE REVIEWS Burberry AW17

This season was a departure on many levels for Chief Creative Director Christopher Bailey, with what looked like his most conceptual collection so far at Burberry.

Digging deeper into who Bailey is as a designer – his influences, points of view and creative expression – made for an intensely personal collection that was infused with his love for Yorkshire artist and sculptor Henry Moore. Speaking as a fellow Northerner, seeing Moore’s sculptures on the catwalk gave me a nostalgia for visiting the Yorkshire Sculpture Park as a child, the same memory that Bailey fondly recalls of while growing up.

As a whole, the colour palette was a deviation from Bailey’s love of colour with a muted palette of black, white, grey and faded blues (taking inspiration even from the artist’s own workwear wardrobe). Bailey used Moore’s un-proportional aesthetic to change the shape of the body with a lot of asymmetric and deconstructed pieces. There were curved shoulders on tweed jackets, round exaggerated sleeves and military jackets with prominent hard, angular shoulders.

Discovering and interjecting his own personality through the lens of Burberry’s 161-year history, Bailey sent a down the runway a series of sculptural capes in what was a stunning finale. Remaking Burberry’s most historic piece in plastic, crystals, lace, feather and pearls. An unforgettable and defining collection for Bailey in what marks his second See Now, Buy Now collection.

Words: Heather Ibberson