At Burberry, Daniel Lee Does Florals For Spring

There are a few things that epitomize British fashion. Burberry is one, and according to creative director Daniel Lee, Cecilia Birtwell is another.

The textile designer has a long and enduring legacy in the English textile industry. She is, in fact, one of the visual definers of the UK fashion scene in the '60s and '70s—and now, for the show that still stands as the hottest ticket of LFW, Lee tapped Birtwell to collaborate on a series of prints for his Spring/Summer 2027 collection for Burberry.

At first glance, one might have thought as though Central Cee's runway debut was the most exciting part of the show, and it certainly would have been for plenty. But for those who share a taste for nostalgia, Birtwell's happy face prints interspersed throughout were surely a rival.

Burberry is famously a check-and-trench heavy house. But for Spring, Lee used the signature silhouettes as launch pads for larger ideas, ones that were spawning with floral motifs and 3D applications: sequin buttercups on featherlight diaphanous midi skirts, silver metal studs forming vines across leather coats, and hand-embroidered blueberry bushes on another. There were dainty little dresses and preppy little shirts with tiny violets printed onto them and taffeta trench coats with puffed hems and tiny, white fluffy flowers embroidered into the puckering material. After a couple of seasons heavy with trenches and checks, Lee invited some well-received lightness into the Burberry universe.