After a somewhat unsure beginning at Burberry, designer Roberto Menichetti has finally found his voice this season. Burberry showed 12 looks in a very strong, slick presentation at their redesigned Haymarket store—looks that said Burberry and England as much as they said modern and urban.
Menichetti's inspiration is the biker's uniform—a super-sophisticated, luxury leather and cashmere version. His message is that we should all wear very thin layers next season, each one as chic as the next, so that we can feel comfortable whether we are in an air-conditioned office or in snow boots. There were skinny leather pants in tawny brown worn with a feather-light hot-pink cashmere sweater, over which was layered a fuchsia leather jacket and a faded Burberry-check coat. And kilts in a hot-pink version of the Burberry check, wrapped and pinned in an ingenious fashion, worn with layers of fine cashmere and cool biker-inspired jackets.
The most interesting fabric development was the ultralight shearling coat—it was almost as weightless as one of his cashmere cardigans. But the crowning glory of this collection has to be the reinvention of the famous Burberry check once again. This time it was injected with a raspberry hue—the fringed scarf is a must-have.
