If London Fashion Week spring/summer 2027 is a tasting menu (a blockbuster H&M show to start, a main course of Christopher Kane’s first Mulberry collection, and McQueen’s London return for pud), then today offers a classic amuse-bouche: a small but perfectly formed celebration of a British fashion classic.
The V&A just lifted the curtain on The Burberry Trench: Crafting an Icon, a bijou display charting the design’s journey from functional military outerwear to eternal fashion classic, worn by everyone from Audrey Hepburn to Alexa Chung, the Princess of Wales to Rihanna.
A 1939 Burberry trench now on display at the V&A.
The display, staged to mark the British house’s 170th anniversary, also represents a rare opportunity to explore the V&A South Kensington’s Prince Consort Gallery, which now houses rare pieces from the museum’s collection and Burberry’s own archive, as well as trench designs that have appeared on the runway over the years. Divided into three categories – Invention, Craft and Creativity – it’s a chance to get a closer look at the practical origins of what is now a wardrobe staple, as well as contemporary interpretations by designers including Christopher Bailey, whose Burberry was central to the indie sleaze aesthetic, and current chief creative officer Daniel Lee.
“It’s really atmospheric,” Oriole Cullen, senior curator, fashion and textiles at the V&A, says of the gallery, recalling how the floor-to-ceiling cabinets used to hold fabrics and textiles – making it a perfect spot to explore how house founder Thomas Burberry transformed the outerwear category with the invention of weatherproof gabardine in 1879. “It’s not just the coat itself that is key,” Cullen says. “It’s very much about the textile, that’s where he’s really innovating, by coming up with this breathable fabric. Previously, waterproof clothing was really hot to wear, stiff and rubberised.”
For her part, Burberry’s Carly Eck, VP, brand curator of archive and heritage, singles out a 1939 trench worn by a lieutenant colonel in the British army, which is juxtaposed with pieces from runway collections in the display and “really speaks to our enduring legacy”. “It is these dichotomies – between tradition and reinvention, old and new, function and fashion – that can all be found within the Burberry trench, and which capture the essence of our brand and our storied heritage.”
Burberry autumn/winter 2022.
Burberry spring/summer 2009.
The Burberry Trench: Crafting an Icon is at V&A South Kensington until 3 January. Entry is free