EXCLUSIVE: Cara Delevingne, Barry Keoghan Bundle Up for Burberry in New Outerwear Campaign
LONDON — The fast-moving, four-seasons-in-a-day British weather is the inspiration for Burberry’s new outerwear campaign, a star-studded, multimedia effort that offers a glimpse of the company’s strategy under new chief executive officer Joshua Schulman.
The campaign, which launches on Tuesday, features well-known faces including Barry Keoghan, Cara Delevingne, Olivia Colman and Little Simz. England footballers Cole Palmer and Eberechi Eze also take their turn in front of the camera, as does new Burberry brand ambassador Zhang Jingyi.
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The campaign was shot by Alasdair McLellan in London and the British countryside, and inspired by a slogan from the archive, “It’s Always Burberry Weather.”
The film shorts that accompany the images have a humorous, absurdist edge.
An insomniac, Colman encounters a flock of sheep on a country road and swiftly starts counting them; an already rain-soaked Jingyi lowers the soft top of her convertible and drives over the twinkling Albert Bridge mid-storm, while a perplexed Little Simz fails to spot an invisible dog with bananas in his hair.
“We were inspired by the warmth of Burberry; the characters, British landmarks and sense of humor,” said Burberry’s chief creative officer Daniel Lee. “The Burberry trenchcoat and outerwear is what people associate Burberry with first, which goes back to that sense of familiarity that was important to us in this campaign.”
Lee added that Burberry outerwear is “about protection and functionality. When people wear the pieces, they shouldn’t feel too precious. They are robust and made for adventure.”
There are seven key styles in the campaign — the trench, Harrington, quilt, puffer, parka, aviator and duffle. Lee has given them all a fresh spin, and styled them with check scarves, boots and a selection of ready-to-wear pieces.
As part of the campaign Burberry has also revived an illustration from the archive known as the Shelter. It shows a man and a woman decked in Burberry and standing back-to-back with two dogs. It will be used on social media, in-store events and other activations.
As part of the outerwear push, Burberry plans to bring its archive to life inside some of its key stores.
It will be displaying replicas of significant designs, and talking about their history. Designs include the Tielocken coat (a predecessor to the trench); the Puttee motoring coat, and the Shackleton outfit, an anorak, trousers and hood created for Sir Ernest Shackleton ahead of his Antarctic expeditions.
Schulman said Burberry was founded with a clear purpose: to protect people from the weather. “‘It’s Always Burberry Weather’ celebrates our original purpose, and the iconic outerwear at the heart of our brand.”
The campaign, he said, “reflects the uniquely British spirit — facing the elements with confidence, wit and style. It is the perfect moment for our customers around the world to fall in love with Burberry again.”
Schulman’s focus on heritage, archives and outerwear should come as no surprise.
When he was named CEO in July, Schulman described Burberry as “quintessentially British, equal parts heritage and innovation. Its original purpose to protect people from the weather is more relevant than ever.”
Outerwear has also been a consistent top performer at the brand.
In the last fiscal year, outerwear grew by a high single-digit percentage, led by Heritage rainwear, while scarves grew by a double-digit percentage. By contrast, men’s and women’s ready-to-wear sales were “below the group average,” declining by a midsingle-digit percentage in 12 months to March 31.
The autumn outerwear campaign features a shower-resistant, cotton gabardine trench with exaggerated gun flaps and epaulettes.
Lee said he added the gun flaps for extra protection from the rain while the epaulettes “give the shoulder more structure.”
The trench has a partial lining “to give it a lighter weight than the coats in our Heritage Collection. It creates a sense of freedom when moving around during the day,” said Lee.
The Harrington jacket is also made from gabardine and is lined with Burberry’s signature check, while the puffer reverses from a solid color to a check. Lee said he looked at all of the two-way styles in the archive, which led to the birth of the reversible puffer.
Lee said he’ll continue to mine the archive for outerwear inspiration, and look for ways to adapt the designs to 21st century life.
“When I first started at Burberry, we looked at every style of trenchcoat. The way proportions and silhouettes have changed over time, the way styles have evolved, is amazing. For us, it is about evolving the trench for the modern wearer, while keeping that sense of tradition that people love about Burberry,” he said.
Last month Lee said that with Schulman, a retail veteran, in the top job, he’s ready to look at the collection through a more commercial lens.
“We want the runway shows to feel like a dream, but we also want the clothing to feel like a real proposition, too,” said Lee after the spring 2025 show, which was also heavy on outerwear.
He added that his conversations with Schulman have been about “how we can take that [dream] element and filter it through. We need to find smart ways to take the check, to take the new codes, and evolve them into something that’s relevant to the stores. I’m excited by that part of the job.”
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