Burberry S/S 2019 London

[Marc10]

When the first section rolled in I got quite excited. Although safe and commercial, it's was also extremely chic, expensive looking and with a great aura of grown up womanly clothes that is refreshing today. Very Hermès/Bottega. When the latter section came in tho.... what a bummer. All the old Givenchy shenanigans that I grew to loathe from his tenure. So with that the collection ended up looking quite confusing. I didn't get what he wants to present here at Burberry. Is it a new look, a new vision? Is just a follow up to his Givenchy? Is it both? Was the excessive amount of looks a way to see what sticks with the customers and build from there? There were more questions than answers here...

 

[guimon]

Overall, I love this. I do agree it's too many looks and at the end it looks like 3 different collections in one show, but I like them all anyway. He could have cutted at least half of this and save it for resort/pre spring or whatever.

He should have sticked with the classic, beige and logos direction, imo. It's classic, chic, simple and so beautiful.
I was afraid he would transform Burberry into something dark, street-style and crazy but I'm glad he kept it simple. This is lovely.

 

[dodencebt]

First impressions: I like the maturity of the first section, am absolutely appalled by the menswear, there are some incredibly covetable trenches and well designed pieces and this show is three times as long as it should have been.

 

[CATO]

i love this collection very much. Very chic and elegant. I wanna wear very much pieces . Very good work.

 

[gossiping]

this is stunning, i absolutely loved everything he did at givenchy and it really reminds me a lot of that. amazing amazing amazing. want so many things.

 

[Lola701]

While it's a very underwhelming collection, i think it's good.
I see a kind of double duality in this collection...There's a duality between the formality & the eccentricity of English/British style and a duality between what Riccardo himself can do: bourgeois, chic & mainstream subcultures.

I think the accessories are very successful, beautiful bags & shoes.
The clothes are great and the first part speaks more to me because i always love the idea of Bourgeois dressing.
I also like the fact that the first part of the collection kinda give a fashion credibility to the stuff that is already available in Burberry boutiques.
You can find a beige pant, a beige skirt, a trench coat and a blue shirt right now and you can recreate that look and it will look good.

I'm underwhelm because i don't feel the need to buy anything from this (except the shoes and bags) mainly because it's really Riccardo and to a certain extend...It looks like the stuff he did at Givenchy. Maybe the blouse on Stella T with the new monogram but that's it.
If you have bought some clothes from his Givenchy years, there's no need to buy this but the great thing is that now, it has a newfound relevance in 2018.

The menswear is what it is but i like the streetwear part because let's face it, Riccardo is the father of modern streetwear. From Virigil Abloh to Jerry Lorenzo, they all started by copying Riccardo before starting to name drop Raf Simons, Margiela & Helmut Lang.
And we see now the difference between real designed streetwear and the lazy customization we see from others.

For some reasons, i really feel like his Burberry will be like Nicolas's Vuitton.
I don't expect greatness because like Nicolas, this time, the brand is almost bigger than him so, he will never give so much of his vision to Burberry. I expect to see over the years a lot of self-references...

I just hope that the next few collections will be more focused and edited. The livestream wasn't really comfortable to watch.
When you have so many looks, it's better maybe to have a big set or to really use the space.
Karl at Chanel or Alessandro at Gucci can have 100 looks. They have big set...
At Fendi, it's much more edited and the set looks appropriate...

Good job Riccardo & good luck for the future...

 

[Zposen]

Overall Riccardo presented a super chic collection, both the women and men collections. I like the fact he was not trying to reinvent Burberry...he remained true to the brand's identity while part of the collection had more of his flare... I am excited to see how he is going to make his mark at Burberry now.

Though it became overwhelming with too many looks. He may have to present his collections separately in the future...

 

[anlabe32]

The first halve was really beautiful and classy. I saw many things I would love to have. The second halve was a bit more street style which will surely attract younger customers.

Overall, a great start. Would've never thought i'd ever say this but I missed him.

 

[Ruito]

The collection was so bland, there was nothing to love. Real disappointment.

 

[Fiercification]

I agree with Lola. It's a chic but sort of unremarkable collection in a way. I like how he interpreted the trench codes in the first section, although some details, particularly when you get into the menswear are very finicky. I'm not even that bothered by the Givenchy digital prints, it's Tisci after all, but it did drive parts of this into wannabe Celine/Prada territory.

The worst thing is simply that this show was too long; I couldn't bear to go through each photo in the Vogue.com slides .

 

[GivenchyHomme]

While it's a very underwhelming collection, i think it's good.
I see a kind of double duality in this collection...There's a duality between the formality & the eccentricity of English/British style and a duality between what Riccardo himself can do: bourgeois, chic & mainstream subcultures.

Good job Riccardo & good luck for the future...

Did you get a Prada vibe from the ladylike pieces? I can't stop thinking of Spring 2000 now. That's probably why I like this so much!

 

[TheoG]

I didn't really know what expect from this debut but I say this is fair showing. I'm actually surprised at how pared down this is, although you see more Riccardo touch towards the end and in a lot of the menswear. I didn't expect it to be as simple. I don't mean it an negative way, I mean simplistic and to the point. Gorgeous coats, dresses, accessories and over course the trenches were spectacular.
I wasn't quite fond of his "punk" interpretation though, it seemed too literal. But I suppose it serves a purpose and it's a British brand at the end of the day.

Something about this show is reminiscent to Marc Jacobs debut show for Louis Vuitton S/S 2000, even the venue is similar, like his really scaling it back and giving Burberry a clean slate to work from. Overall, its still to early for me but decent start.

 

[Lola701]

Did you get a Prada vibe from the ladylike pieces? I can't stop thinking of Spring 2000 now. That's probably why I like this so much!

Yes! Totally! I didn't want to mention that at first but the ladylike allure, the Car coat (which is the quintessential Prada coat), the shade of blue, that marroon...
The end result might not be "Prada" but it did reminds me of that. That shade of blue is something really new from Riccardo in such a simple piece as a shirt.
I secretly hope that Miuccia goes into that direction again. I went to a store this weekend and i saw the shirts with the lipstick prints and an SA told me that the new bag is actually the bag from the S/S2000...
Fingers crossed!!

I don't know if it's a generational thing but i find the Burberry check quite tacky. I mean, for a long time i felt that Bailey was quite uncomfortable with that so he has treated in different way to hide it "tackiness". So apart as a lining print, i'm not really into that exposed in such a way...
And a bag with the Burberry check printed on looks very tacky, very Nouveau riche....
I'm kinda surprised that Riccardo didn't used his new monogram that much given the fact that he forced it to us all over the world.

 

[dior_couture1245]

Hmm...it's really not that interesting of a collection. But I suppose, it was too much to expect it to be. Burberry is an enormous corporation, and we are living in risk averse times - when it comes to big fashion houses.

The first half would have been enough for me. Very bourgeoisie, very Givenchy Fall/Winter 2014, very beige. Simple enough. Nice enough. More grown up and dressy. Very British royal family-oriented. Made for Meghan Markle.

But then the rest of the show was really a mess. The punk references are so exhausted in fashion, the streetwear printed stuff is so dated looking...yes Riccardo in many ways, started that trend in high fashion, but the look has evolved, and at this point his iteration and version of it looks rather cheap. In fact...what bothers me about almost everything here, including the first beige section, is that things look cheap. They don't look luxurious. It's not quite the right color beige, or quite the right color red, it's not quite the right fabrication, it's not quite the right accessory...anyway.

Good on Tisci for cashing in big time, I'm sure. I just don't think we'll be looking to Burberry for anything interesting at this stage of the brand's life, nor in Tisci's either. It really is not dissimilar to Ghesquiere x LV. One time, both designers were extremely creative and personal designer. Now both their work is incredibly merchandiser driven. Very corporate. No real personality anymore. Polished...but at the expense of what?

 

[YeohRocks]

I really do like this. Especially the first part of the collection, everything looks so chic and sharp.

Bailey's collection was a unwearable, monstrosity. While this may not be groundbreaking it looks like a proper Burberry collection. One that has some thought put into it at last.

 

[mepps]

This entire collection is dull from start to finish. It's like he threw in 100+ looks, hoping something good would stick.
It's funny reading all of these posts from people, quite literally scraping crumbs to find something positive about his debut.
Tischi brought nothing fresh, new, or interesting to Burberry. This is a man who lead one of the most storied houses in fashion for over a decade. He should not be graded on a curve, as if he's some novice fresh out of design school. He needs to be called out for his lack of vision.

 

[Sensation]

I thought the first half was great but after that it went downhill with endless looks.

 

[Lola701]

To his defense, his first season at Givenchy while good enough for me, wasn't at all a success. I mean the clientele and the retailers liked it and his couture was solid but his breakthrough came with the FW2007 collection, so his 4th main RTW collection.
Burberry is a commercial fashion house. They don't have a Couture background and they sell that much stuff and their fashion has to be practical that i don't see how he could have done differently for a first show.

This collection is a statement compared to what Bailey has done for his last 2 ou 3 years. It's back to basics...
At this point of his career, Riccardo doesn't have to prove to us that he is a great designer (unlike Hedi), it's to bring to life a fashion house that has lost it cachet.

If he removed everything from Burberry's past like Hedi, then i would have wanted something more directional. But he chose to be part of the history of Burberry. Hedi is recreating something else.
Riccardo's first act at Burberry was to style the collection made by the team before him...

I'm sure he will come into his own in the Burberry world.

 

[disco54]

The womenswear was atrocious but the menswear was pretty good albeit it was still very Givenchy. I feel it lacks that English flavor.

 

[GivenchyAddict]

I feel like people forget that fashion is a business and not some place where only creativity prevails to please your eyes and feed your desire for more originality.

Burberry is a mega brand that could be considered as the British Hermès. Bailey started to sink this brand and they called someone who could deliver modern, sellable and desirable collections to loyal customers who did not find themselves in Bailey’s work anymore BUT also to attract new customers to buy. This collection was very good because, in my opinion, he managed to catch customers’ interest back to this house :

The first part was very strong in terms of offering and close to the house DNA. We can feel how luxurious, well fitted the clothes are. Some of you said it was quite Bottega and I love this idea because I think that’s where Burberry should put itself in term of brand position.

The second part is clearly a millennial and any streetwear aficionados’ trap. I am not a fan but I understand easily why he did it. Riccardo’s fans will follow him as the offering at Givenchy is very different under Claire’s tenure now.

The last point, I read too many times people criticising Ghesquière at Louis Vuitton and saying Riccardo is now the same at Burberry. Their contracts are different from the past, the goals around the houses are different from the past. Balenciaga was a very small brand where Ghesquière had time to develop, to do research and was allowed of doing mistakes which is not really the case when you work for Louis Vuitton. This is the same with Riccardo between Givenchy and Burberry.

Maybe also after so many years, they indeed have nothing to prove and they dedicated their time enough to being the tastemakers and to lead the pack. Now they know how to sell a brand, to create desirability and still enjoy their life. Designers have no obligation to sacrifice themselves for fashion in order to please people who are easily bored and blasé because fashion insiders are incredibly bored and blasé (I am too most of the time) when they don’t have in front of their eyes crazy clothes à la Galliano or McQueen. So let’s appreciate clothes that are just simply beautiful.