With great hype - and lots of social media - Burberry arrived in London, eschewing Milan in favour of a show on home turf. It's a coup for LCM - the more international buyers and press that flock to our capital to see powerhouses like Burberry, McQueen and Rag and Bone, the more exposure our home-grown, young talents will have. It's appropriate then that Christopher Bailey was championing other British creative gems in his collection, specifically Alan Bennett and David Hockney. With their neat shirts, school boy ties and drawstring rucksacks, the Burberry boys could have been straight out of The History Boys, while the colour palette, full of lego block brights and vibrant primaries, could have been lifted off a Hockney canvas.
Every British classroom needs its teacher's pet, the goody two-shoes, and on the London schedule that's now Burberry, resolutely polished and proper, certainly not swayed by the excitement and anarchy taking place on neighbouring runways. Still, what the collection lacked in drama, it made up for in British spirit. This really was a festival of Englishness, a celebration of all things great about our green and pleasant lands, not just in the nods to national treasures but also in the weatherproof cajoles - perfect for our British 'summer' - and the wholesome gingham and English flower prints.
There was definitely a youthfulness and vibrancy to this season's Burberry show that seemed relevant to the current menswear scene, and London's fashionable men, in a way the recent Milan collections never did. That can only be a good thing for Burberry, a brand whose meal ticket is selling a sense of english heritage to a global audience.
