The Golden Age of Burberry | By Rosie Pentreath

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How Angela Ahrendts and Christopher Bailey saved a great British brand...

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he maxim contained in the logo of the British luxury fashion house Burberry – prorsum, meaning ‘forwards’ – is as fitting today as it was when the company pioneered its revolutionary gabardine fabric in 1880. For the brand’s CEO Angela Ahrendts has been announced as the first ever female to be the highest paid executive in Britain. Ahrendts, currently ranked number 53 on the Forbes list of Power Women and one of only three women featured in the FTSE 100, is as forward thinking as they come. With her shrewd discernment she has transformed a traditional trench coat brand into an unassailable global fashion force in just six years. Through savvy social media campaigns, fabulous Fashion Week shows, irresistible celebrity editorials and ultra-cool spin-offs such as the Burberry Acoustic music sessions, her and creative director Christopher Bailey have completely changed the face of Burberry since they took over in 2006. The fashion label has been on a tumultuous journey – from pioneering to inconsequential, and back again – to look as hot as it does today.

Model of the moment Cara Delevigne walking at Burberry’s Autumn/Winter 2013 show

When Thomas Burberry founded his small outfitters in Basingstoke in 1856 he was modestly fitting men and mountaineers in well-designed sports and outerwear. But when he invented a brand new fabric it became clear that he was on to something special. Gabardine, which Burberry patented in 1888, proved light and breathable yet hardwearing and durable enough for the toughest of British winters. The prorsum motto was already the right fit for this his ambitions and it became even more so in 1914 when Burberry was commissioned by the War Office to adapt their officer’s coat into a garment suitable for modern warfare. The iconic British trench was born. The lustre around the Burberry name hasn’t always shone bright however. What was revolutionary and covetable at the beginning of the twentieth century had become staid and enervated by the end of it. By the 2000s the brand had earned a poor reputation thanks to a laissez-faire attitude towards licensing, resulting in the proliferation of the trademark tartan across cheap products and among rowdy football fans and night club frequenters. Ahrendts herself was one of the tastemakers who cleverly pin-pointed Burberry’s image crisis right away. She viewed the brand’s close association with such figures as


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