Thursday 9 October 2008

Burberry Prorsum




Photos here

For me this was the very best collection of the recent shows. Two articles I have read via The Thoughtful Dresser from here and here really sum up for me the current mood as does Christopher Kane's clothes for Burberry. I am slowly learning the art of layering and it does not get more beautiful than this, I am lucky that I am nearly 5'8 so i can wear longer clothes than many and this is one look I am keen to try. Even his jewellery was good.

No discussion of Britain’s sartorial tics proceeds very far before it collides with a cloud front, a rainstorm and the occasional heatwave. The weather doesn’t merely affect the way we dress, it defines it. It may be no exaggeration to say that most of the enduring wardrobe components this country has given to the world – the trench coat, the argyle sweater, the cashmere twinset, the wellington, the sprigged tea dress – arose from a need to combat the elements. As for our other great contribution, thank 1,000 years of military doggedness. Savile Row tailoring wouldn’t exist without Army uniforms. Without tailoring there would be no mods, no Vivienne Westwood, no easily definable system for telegraphing one’s class. Punks wouldn’t have looked nearly so sharp.

So true, I go on and on about the weather, but it really makes dressing hard. Today for example I have to leave at 7am so it is cold, perhaps 10 degrees I have a 20 min walk in this. But my room gets the sun all day so now it is 28 degrees I have to work all day in this. Walking home 17 degrees! another 20 mins walk and often a long wait on a very very windy station platform. No Brief Encounteresque steamy tearoom for me either. So as you can see it is not an easy day to dress for, hence my obsession with the weather and what the hell to wear each and every day.

2 comments:

La Belette Rouge said...

I have been very surprised how much I have loved Burberry's recent collections. There was a skirt from Winter 2007 that lives in my mind on the "things I would have bought if I had had the money" list. The skirt in picture #2 could easily make it to that list.

materfamilias said...

love these looks as well, although at not-quite-5'4" I have to be careful. I've got a few of the Grandpa-ish long cardigans in fine wool blends and love them for layering and practicality (mine aren't Burberry)and a long, clean line.
I'm with you on the weather -- we've had the same issues with cool early mornings but then overheated classrooms. And fall winds and rains are getting more and more serious about staying for a while.