It was hard to look so far ahead as Autumn and Winter 2011 as the Burberry Prorsum AW11 catwalk show broke with 2010’s winter only just creeping out of sight, but if you had an eye on the next season’s styles then the Burberry Prorsum catwalk show below was about as inspiring as it gets. Even if you can’t afford the price tag, the video is worth watching to see what the high street names had to trailer after with their own attempts to match the designs of the catwalk.
The show opens up in high style with a Dusty Springfield rendition of Lesley Gore’s 1964 You Don’t Own Me and it continues with a great mix of new designs and classic music, making it feel like you’re watching a super slick sixties movie. There’s a quirky feel to some of the early coat and dress designs with over-sized features and chunky straps. There’s also a hint of Jil Sander about some of the looks from both the men’s styles and the women’s designs, but then it’s sort of hard not to see JS anywhere that there’s the vaguest trace of minimalism involved.
The military suit that turned out at around half way through the full show was probably our favourite new design, but to be honest there’s sort of something for everyone in the Burberry Prorsum Autumn Winter 2011 collection; there are just so many great designs. The all white dresses a little later on are particularly stylish, but the furry dalmatian hats are going to divide opinions right down the middle, with sime buying into their quirky sixties appeal and others only seeing a gimmick.
What the design house did for AW11 is take along hard look at their past before trying to recreate their future and by doing that they’ve made something that’s timeless and progressive. The Burberry archives have clearly been well and truly raided in terms of some of the styles on show, but then when you’ve got as much back catalogue brilliance as them you can risk looking behind you every once in a while.
The dramatic snow fall ending is stunning. Like the end of a play. The little clear shoulder raincoats are a class touch too. It was tough to say, having only just gotten through Autumn and Winter 2010 when we first saw the video, but watching the end of the Burberry Prorsum Autumn Winter 2011 show makes me feel like another snowfall wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all.
Burberry Prorsum Autumn and Winter 2011 fashion show review: 4.5/5
