GIVEN the torrential downpour in Milan, the last thing the audience at Burberry Prorsum wanted was to be confronted with a myriad of mirrors as they squelched in their Louboutins and drowned-rat hair. But that's what they got, in the form of tiny, mirrored squares of glass in a rainbow of colours applied to trench-coats, skirts and the hemlines of dresses. Christopher Bailey's light, bright and effortlessly elegant collection brought a ray of sunshine to the dreary day, not just in the crystal beads, aluminium squares and glass brocade that he sprinkled over Burberry staples - the trench, and of late the Sixties swing dress, but in the puffed, breezy volumes and polite spring pastels. The delicious ice-cream palette, all pearly eu de nil, rose pink and creamy vanilla, was the clearest parallel with Bailey's cited reference: Cecil Beaton's society photographs of 1920s debutantes, as the designer continues his love affair with the eccentric iconography of the British aristocracy.
His beloved trench was reincarnated yet again as a key piece for summer, reworked in cream with lantern sleeves, cropped just below the elbow, or covered in warm copper glass, cinched with a terracotta belt. Short shapes gave a swing to this collection, faintly Sixties in reference and with a sense of delicate volume to most of the dresses and skirts. This collection was about luxury. Luxury in the mirror covered coats that certainly don't provide cover on a rainy day like this, luxury in the silky sheen of lamé over a simple cream shift, and luxury in the dove cashmere sweater that cascades into a waterfall of couture-like ostrich features. With the rich glow of treasures on display, it suddenly didn't seem so cold and miserable outside.
Tags: Fashion Burberry Models Christopher Bailey MODTV
