Early in Daniel Lee’s career, he spent time working for Donna Karan in New York City, an experience he still considers important to his development. “I love the possibility, straightforwardness and ability of Americans to get things done,” he said when we interviewed him. “I always love coming back to New York: living here never becomes a burden,” he added.
Burberry’s chief creative officer was speaking in Soho, London, where he is temporarily living during the renovation of its Westminster headquarters after joining Britain’s biggest luxury brand at the end of 2022. We’re talking New York, because once he’s put the finishing touches on the brand’s latest bespoke collection – “it’s always crazy this time of year” – he’ll head across the pond to tackle another Burberry renovation project, which officially opens next week.
The six-story building first opened in 1970 and was later expanded and extensively redesigned at the turn of the century. “It’s an iconic, beautiful location and we actually own the building,” Lee said. “It was also the first store where I started working on driving and developing the Burberry architectural concept,” he added. The store generally has to be long-lasting, which is very different from designing a collection that typically lasts a season.
When Lee officially reopens for cocktails and dinner on October 16, guests will enter a space that he says aims to “bring back the British feel to the environment.” Imported limestone floors, cabinetry and facade details are designed to highlight the elegant solidity of Georgian architecture. Lee drew inspiration from the British capital’s cast-iron railings and street architecture to shape the store’s railings, handrails and railings. “The material palette reflects the essence of the house and our heritage,” he explains. Another element is the work of textile artist Tom Ayton Moore, who created a series of rugs that will be installed on site. “We really wanted to convey the feeling of an English country house in the rugs and tapestries,” Lee said.
Another link in Lee’s Burberry tapestry launches today. The new campaign, titled “It’s Always Burberry Weather”, takes the form of a series of film clips and images, in which seven contemporary brand ambassadors appear in iconic British scenes wearing Lee’s reimagined Burberry classic jackets. The cast includes actors Olivia Colman, Zhang Jingyi, Barry Keoghan and Cara Delevingne (herself a traditional Burberry muse), as well as musician Little Sims and British football stars Cole Palmer and Eberechi Eze. Lee said of the casting: “We asked ourselves, ‘Who really embodies the spirit of Burberry and the idea of modern Britain?’ “We really wanted a group that represented different types of art forms, different types of creativity and different types of craftsman people, because Burberry has such a broad audience – I don’t think the scope of the brand is that limited.
One particularly striking shot from the campaign shows Coleman wearing a plaid-lined quilted jacket in the country’s standard green. She shares the scene on a Norfolk lane with a flock of sheep and a brightly coloured Range Rover Classic, a British country 4×4 that was discontinued in the mid-1990s. Does this retro-inspired choice reflect Lee’s broader vision for Burberry? “Well, I think this brand is about celebrating the classics, and when you think about seeing something in its most beautiful state and form, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the most modern version, no matter what you find most beautiful or what you’re romantic about.” She added: “I think Burberry and some of the established brands are not always new, but it’s about the soul of these things, but it’s about the people here… There’s nothing more powerful than seasonality.”
However, the changing seasons are an undeniable part of Burberry’s efforts to maintain a balance between tradition and innovation. Lee said one way to inject soul into the runway pieces is to use individuality as the driving force of design.
For example, at his most recent show, held in front of an installation by artist Gary Hume at London’s National Theatre last month, Lee wore a sequined, fringed party dress with a strong, technical coat, which made a particularly deep impression on the audience. He elaborates: “The process involved exploring ideas in the studio and then putting them in the space of Burberry, imagining the characters and the people who would wear them, so for example, for those party dresses, it was how would she wear it and what would be the context of where to wear it? The answer is she could be outside rather than in a perfumed indoor setting – maybe at a wedding or a music festival.
As the only top luxury brand in a country with a strong tradition of media discussion, Burberry and its leadership often face intense public scrutiny. As a creative person, does Lee take it personally? He replied: “It’s a personal matter, but it’s also something you learn to live with. One of the reasons this brand is subject to such a high level of scrutiny compared to many other brands is its value to this country. Importance. For me, Burberry is an institution, so I think it comes with that.
Happily, though, strength and security are as core to Burberry’s soul as its iconic trench coats. Lee recently began working with a new partner at the firm, recently named New York-born CEO Joshua Schulman. Lee said it was the combined efforts of the two American CEOs, Rose Marie Bravo and Angela Ahrendts, and British designer Christopher Bailey that grew the brand into a global fashion leader in the 2000s. Which brings us back to New York and New Yorkers. “I like working with people who are very outspoken and very ambitious,” Lee said. “And I think it will be easier for the new American CEO to come to Burberry.”
