In a winter of record-breaking rain, Burberry – purveyor of the stalwart British coat – is back in the zeitgeist. A season of downpours has provided an apt backdrop for a return to form, as the brand re-entered the FTSE 100 last autumn after an ignominious year out of the charts.
The classic check scarf was ranked the fourth hottest fashion item in the last quarter of 2025 on the search, sales and social media metrics of the Lyst index, with overall demand for the brand up 239% year on year.
Designer Daniel Lee, speaking backstage after the show for London fashion week, said his studio in Burberry HQ has “this massive skylight, so I’ve been watching the rain pour down, and thinking about how London always has this incredible buzz. Even when it’s dark and wet people are still out every night”.
The Burberry show is itself an iconic London night out. Under the vaulted iron ribs of the old Billingsgate fish market, Daisy Edgar-Jones chatted to Olivia Dean as they waited for Kate Moss, who was 45 minutes late. Eberechi Eze sat front row, and Romeo Beckham walked the catwalk.
Last season Burberry was about muddy festival fields, before that it was country house weekends, but this night was all urban energy. Not just trenchcoats, but faux-fur bomber jackets and padded leather jackets, worn with stompy leather boots that could run for a night bus. The rest of us might be sick of rain, but Burberry leant into it, pockmarking the catwalk with slick puddles – made of non-slip resin, since the models walked in 6in heels.
Burberry has doubled down on outerwear, accessorised by scarves, hats and umbrellas, as its bread and butter. The show opened with an ivory take on the trench-ballgown hybrid worn by Teyana Taylor at Sunday’s Baftas.
After an unsuccessful flirtation with high-concept fashion and even higher prices, Burberry under its American chief executive, Joshua Schulman, is now betting on an aspirational customer who is prepared to invest in a coat, and who will shell out for the cachet of a heritage name, but has been priced out of the Paris and Milan super brands.
The turnaround has, however, come at a high cost for the Burberry workforce. A cut of 1,700 jobs globally, announced last May, has seen 150 roles axed at the Castleford factory in Yorkshire, with the closure of the night shift.
The list of names who have previously strutted the Burberry catwalk or sat in the front row reads like a line-up of Desert Island Discs episodes: from Richard E Grant to Joanna Lumley, Ian Wright and Naomi Campbell. This Christmas, the tree in the lobby of Claridge’s hotel was designed by Lee and dressed in vintage Burberry bows. A knight in full shining armour has made an appearance at a show, while black cabs and full English breakfasts make cameo appearances in ads.
Burberry’s latest adverts feature original British supermodel Twiggy and Maya Wigram, who is the model daughter of designer and uber-tastemaker Phoebe Philo. Twiggy in a 1960s-style snake-print car coat is a referential nod to British fashion history. Wigram in a laser-cut trenchcoat is an if-you-know-you-know reminder about the pedigree of Lee, who worked alongside her mum for much of the 2010s when Philo helmed the Celine brand in Paris.