5 things to love about Christopher Bailey’s Burberry

In 2009, Bailey moved Burberry’s catwalk show from Milan to London, injecting some ‘big brand’ glossiness into the British capital’s schedule in the process. The huge tent that popped up in Kensington Gardens each season (and then Makers House in Soho) became the most sought-after ticket of the week, with banks of photographers waiting outside, a star-studded front row (Kate Moss, Sienna Miller, Naomi Campbell and even Harry Styles were among its regular inhabitants), and show-stopping moments. FW12’s finale, when Cara Delevingne led a troupe of umbrella-carrying models down the runway as ‘snow’ fell from above, was a particular highlight.

A huge music fan, Bailey recruited a smorgasbord of up-and-coming musicians to provide the soundtrack to his shows. He has discerning taste: Benjamin Clementine, Jake Bugg, George Ezra and Tom Odell have all performed at the top of the catwalk early in their careers. Bailey called upon established names, too, such as when Alison Moyet sang throughout the SS16 show accompanied by a full orchestra. And we could all witness the magic as it happened. Now that you can watch almost every major fashion show live on your laptop, it’s easy to forget that Burberry pioneered live fashion-week streaming in 2010.

Listen to the Burberry playlist here.

Bailey has a knack for enlisting models just before their careers explode. Over the years, he’s recruited Agyness Deyn, Lily Donaldson and Edie Campbell to take center stage. “Burberry, and Christopher Bailey, have been a huge part of my career,” says Campbell. “I shot my first campaign with Christopher, and countless more since, and for that I will be eternally grateful. He’s been a wonderful man to work with: always kind, relaxed, and positive.” It’s not just models, either – revisit the SS08 campaign and marvel at a very youthful Eddie Redmayne bedecked in sequins. The imagery is never short of gloss: Delevingne once posed with Kate Moss, Eddie Redmayne and Matt Smith, while Emma Watson made her fashion campaign debut with brother Alex.

Once the epitome of chic, in the late ’90s and early ’00s the Burberry check – much appropriated and endlessly copied – lost its luster. It had been hiding in fashion’s hinterlands for years until it was reincarnated as a modern must-have– first in a 2017 menswear capsule with cult Russian designer Gosha Rubchinskiy and then all over the SS18 collection. Cue fashion editors across the land scrabbling around in the backs of their closets to pull out scarves and trenches long forgotten, then looking pretty smug about it. And Bailey hasn’t stopped there. Ahead of this weekend’s show, he’s unveiled a brand-new rainbow check, along with the news that Burberry will be working with three LGBTQ+ charities: the Albert Kennedy Trust, ILGA World and the Trevor Project. “My final collection here at Burberry is dedicated to and in support of some of the best and brightest organizations supporting LGBTQ+ youth around the world,” says Bailey. “There has never been a more important time to say that in our diversity lies our strength, and our creativity.”