Burberry’s New London Home And Celebration Of Craftmanship Exhibit
The brand’s forthcoming London Fashion Week show will have a new location – and you’re invited
After years of hosting its London Fashion Week show in Kensington Gardens, Burberry is branching out to a new space, one which will help bring its latest collection to life.
Named ‘Makers House’, the venue will be located at 1 Manette Street in the heart of London’s Soho and, once inside, guests will find some of Britain’s finest craftspeople showcasing original works and demonstrating the skills that helped put the line together.
While previous Burberry catwalks have been exclusively invite-only, ‘Makers House’ will be open to the public from September 21-27, with a daily changing programme of activities and installations, as part of a collaboration with the New Craftsmen. Throughout the week, the company’s craftspeople will continue to use the space to experiment and create, drawing on the collection’s inspiration – Virginia Woolf’s 1928 novel Orlando – as the starting point for their work.
“Just as Virginia Woolf’s Orlando is both a love letter to the past and a work of profound modernity, this week-long exhibition aims to nod both to the design heritage that is so integral to Burberry’s identity, and to some of Britain’s most-exciting creators, and the innovation and inspiration behind their work,” says Christopher Bailey, Burberry’s chief-creative and chief-executive officer.
This year’s show will also centre around “contrasting masculine and feminine styles across different periods in history”, and marks the first time that both Burberry menswear and womenswear will be presented together. To coincide with the show, Mario Testino shot a September 2016 campaign featuring his new British castmembers Jean Campbell, Cavan McCarthy and Alex Dragulele (pictured above and below), photographed at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. Alongside the models, Testino also captured a series of portraits of Burberry artisans: the men and women from mills and factories across England, Scotland and Italy who contribute to making the label’s products.
Mario Testino for Burberry
“This campaign… sets out to honour the many skilled craftspeople who work on Burberry’s iconic products,” says Bailey.
The full campaign will be released following the Burberry London Fashion Week show on 19 September at 7.30pm, when the collection will also be available to buy globally immediately.
Via Harper’s Bazaar UK