In the last report from day one in Milan, James Tregaskes takes in Christopher Bailey’s latest collection for Burberry Prorsum
Just where does Burberry wonder boy Christopher Bailey keep all those art and photography books he’s surely been flicking through? Past collections have referenced artists such as David Hockney and L.S Lowry and this season it was the turn of renowned British photographer Bill Brandt, whose highly contrasted black and white images of an austere post-war Britain inspired the latest Burberry Prorsum collection.
Bailey is a man for detail and with an opening track of U2’s “Where The Streets Have No Name” there was a sense that this was going to be a rather different collection. Through a collection of oversized overcoats, caps and snoods and with a feint reference to industrial towns up North, I could see miners and rows of terraced houses under a cloud of black smoke.
The iconic Burberry check enjoyed a return; it had not been seen since ‘chavs’ up and down the country adopted it as their trademark. Here the house-check was oversized and featured on snoods, shirting and jackets; a first for Prorsum.
On the knitwear front some fantastic chunky cable knits in muted greys and tans emerged as well as long cardigans and a printed tee of what looked like an old print, appearing underneath suits with knitted fair-isle cummerbunds. There was a shift in mood as things came to a close, with velvets in bottle greens and blues. The boy done good.
Keep an eye out for more from Milan Men’s Fashion Week on t5m
