Discovering a Daniel Lee-designed Burberry collection in a Paris showroom offers a host of different impressions than seeing his clothes whisk by during a London fashion show.
His spring collections for men and women remain true to his runway debut last February in their devotion to the check, rose motifs, the outerwear category, striking colors beyond beige — and quirky, eye-catching accessories. Even his big, zany trapper hats remain in the picture.
This effort felt a little sharper in the closer-to-the-body shapes; gentler thanks to the mostly sorbet shades, and a tad more conservative in its interpretations of British wardrobe archetypes like trenchcoats, overcoats, car coats and corduroy-collared field jackets.
The subversions and modern touches were subtle: Prince of Wales checks came blurred, or warped in strategic places on hefty jacquards, while argyle patterns were at times naively drawn on sweaters with a deep-V neckline.
Lee also introduced a large-scale houndstooth pattern, which went warped around the snowboarder knee seams on pants, or remained graphically intact on a sleek car coat.
Dandelion prints and loads of hunter green — the latter for leather coats and puffers, plus a chiffon gown similar to the one Liberty Ross wore to the Met Gala — felt quintessentially English.
The shoes, meanwhile, felt quintessentially Lee, who in his previous job made squishy clutch bags and square-toed shoes a thing.
Here footwear was rendered in an array of unusual colors like lemon sorbet, and in striking shapes. His riding boots with ankle harnesses, short, chunky-heeled wellies and zipper-detailed leather mules look like potential hits. Men’s sneakers, with their offbeat rubbery, swollen aspect, maybe not.
In a showroom context, it’s also easier to detect how Lee has incorporated subtle branding across all categories: the Burberry blue popping up on snap buttons and cinching hardware; scarf fringe edging pantlegs, flap bags and even women’s pumps, and its equestrian knight design incorporated into handbag hardware.
His soft and asymmetrical Shield and Knight bags look a bit wonky on a shelf, but a Burberry rep explained that the scrunchable bags are meant to collapse against the body and match the utilitarian attitude of a trenchcoat.
Time will tell if his Peg bags, with their metal clothespin closures, cause a sensation.
