Burberry continues its celebration of 100 years for its Fall/Winter collection for 2006. This season designer Christopher Bailey draws from the sixties again, pointing inspiration from Ali McGraw. Backstage Bailey commented that his focus overall this season was to express the history of the Burberry brand. Opening the collection this season was model Stella Tenant, a muse or favorite that a handful of other designers have celebrated in the last 3 seasons. This first look was certainly pointing out the strong points of the collection. Bailey opened with a strong look a white quilted leather trench coat with a fox fur collar and cuffs. Very Burberry and very sexy!
In the opening section Bailey showed several outerwear looks. Including a several versions of the quilted leather including in a red/chocolate color leather. For this season Bailey opted to use a lot of fur to express the opulence of the collection. One great fur look was the classic Burberry trench coat, which Bailey added fox fur on the bottom half of the coat as well as the cuffs and collar. Christopher also played with some this season’ big trends. The first was the use of plaid and tartans. One great piece was a plaid print wool jacket with a two-tiered ruffle waist. The jacket was worn with a double button front pencil skirt.
Although Bailey showed a handful of ruffle pieces in the collection, unfortunately they were too gypsy for the collection. One the great standout fabric that Bailey played with was the antique lace. One great look was a antique lace dress that is tiered from the waist down to the hem. The lace is layered on a bias and band of burgundy velvet is wrapped on the waist and used as thick straps over the shoulders. The second section of the collection Bailey attempted to incorporate classic black and white hounds tooth and modern geometric prints on outerwear and dress’s. These unique prints didn’t really fit into the overall Burberry look. One great piece in this section was a black wool tweed dress with large black buttons down the front of the dress and tied off by slim leather studded belt. The dress is a classic but the tiny ruffles on the cuff really make the dress unique.
For the third section Bailey moved out of black and white and into a dark plum pallet. One of the standout pieces of this section was a laser cut dark plum skirt worn over a dark plum cotton skirt. Worn with a long sleeve cashmere turtleneck in dark plum and a soft baby blue cashmere cable knit scarf. A very decadent look but it really embodies the sexiness that Bailey was looking to create. For the fourth section Bailey moved into all black pallet with little hints of white looks mixed in. One of the great evening looks was a creamy white embossed velvet dress. The velvet is embossed to create a box pattern of lines covering the entire dress. The delicate beading on the cuffs and collar really made the dress more classic and elegant piece.
The must have looks from the collection were two big trend items for the season. First is one of only a few ruffle looks that Bailey was successful. A matching skirt and top in a matte blue/green color, the skirt is a silk chiffon skirt with tiers of ruffles crisscrossing on bias at the front. Worn with a long sleeve stretch merino top with a ruffle detail on the shoulder. The second must have look is a wool tartan overcoat with wide lapel and gathered at the cuff and hem to create a bubble shape to the coat. This piece incorporated two big trends of tartans and the bubble shape. It felt like the collection had holes in it. What was missing is the strong common thread from section to section that Bailey is known for. The collection seemed to jump from look to another look. As usual the collection is certainly wearable and sellable and Bailey created several new classic pieces for the Burberry label. Bravo Monsieur Bailey.
view collection here
[images via style.com]
Critics are clambering at the recent public appearance of Christy Turlington Burns. Christy made her first public appearance since giving birth to her new son Finn back in February. Critics have gone nuts over Christy's Balenciaga outfit, claiming its a bad take on a scouting uniform. My first reaction to seeing her photo, SHE LOOKS AMAZING for just given birth 2 months ago. Bravo Christy you look great and personally I love the outfit. I know the weather in New York has been warm so the outfit fits the occasion perfectly!
