Larry in Burberry is Beside the Weather’s fashion correspondent. He analyzes fashion trends for common wearers of clothes. He dreams of IKEA-inspired Balenciaga bags but still puts his furniture together himself.
Think of Larry in Burberry like Damsel in Dior’s work husband, who she really loves but sometimes gets annoyed with because he goes too all out on the 4th of July. Follow Larry on Insta here.
We’ve left NYC for the rain of London, but you know what happens after a nice drizzle? A rainbow. And the rainbows were especially magical at Christopher Bailey’s last show for Burberry.
Christopher has been with Burberry as long as Larry has existed, so as I collect myself and dry my eyes with my Burberry scarf, I’ll let Elle magazine set the scene for his final show:
“For 17 years, Christopher Bailey has helmed Burberry like a stern-but-inspiring sea captain, steering his design team and his shoppers into greater creative depths. On Saturday night, he finally came ashore—in this case, into the fashion show audience—thanking everyone from staff to stars like Naomi Campbell for nearly an hour after his final runway bow.”
You’ll always be my captain, Christopher. And I’ll always be your seaman.
For anyone tardy on the tartan, Bailey took Burberry from a struggling trench coat maker to a global fashion player, reinvigorated London Fashion Week by moving the Burberry fashion shows from Milan to London, made Burberry stand for something more than fashion and redefined what modern Britishness looks like.
Speaking of standing for something, Burberry announced before the show its plan to make donations to three organizations that support LGBTQ+ communities: the Albert Kennedy Trust, the Trevor Project, and ILGA and the final collection introduced a rainbow to the brand’s signature check pattern.
There were rainbow baseball caps, visors, chunky knits, puffers, handbags, capes, anoraks, sneakers, vests and more. Most available now on Burberry’s website.
Cara Delevingne (a regular on the Burberry runways over the years) closed the show.
Naomi Campbell, Matt Smith, Alexa Chung, Sienna Miller, Idris Elba and even Chelsea Clinton were in the front row.
And Zendaya made us all go whoa.
After taking his final bow, Bailey said: “Fashion needs context. There are so many questions being asked in the world now: about our values, about the way we live, the way we consume. I wanted us as a big organisation to make a stand for something. It is a way for me to try and make some sense of all this chaos.”
The chaos internally at Burberry now extends to who will replace Bailey as brand’s lead designer? Industry rumors suggest current Celine designer Phoebe Philo or men’s artistic director at Louis Vuitton, Kim Jones (until just recently) are the front runners, but Larry would like to throw his Jokin’ Joe’s fishing hat in the ring as well. Here’s my application Burberry brass (not sure why the highlighted is relevant) and consider this post my cover letter. (Thursday nights are for Scandal.)
I know it seems farfetched, but Christopher Bailey was known for digital/social media marketing. Who better to jump in the online trenches than the 31-one-year old who Reese Blutstein told in his Instagram DMs she has to check Larry in Burberry out? Do you think this flash flare rainbow right as Burberry’s whole last show is rainbow-themed is a coincidence? I think not.
While I’m more of an Applebee’s guy and Kanye takes diamond-desiring ladies to Ruby Tuesdays, artist Angelica Hicks seems to prefer Fridays.
Other than the sartorial plaid salutes to Burberry, all red was the hottest street style trend at London Fashion Week.
I think i pulled it off quite nicely. What’s in the fanny pack you ask? My secrets.
Let’s see that in situ, as they say in the biz.
Pretty good. I also appreciate no one throwing a black furry hat on these outfits and stealing valor from the Queen’s Guard.
Speaking of her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth sat next to Anna Wintour.
Anna made headlines in New York when she sat next to Cardi B. Now Queen Elizabeth. Are the Winter Olympics or the Wintour Olympics more popular right now amirite?!
Speaking of the Olympics, 110,000 condoms were delivered to Pyeongchang for this year’s games, setting a record (probably used mostly by the Canadian ice dancing team and the U.S. curler with a mustache).
Condoms also made an appearance on the runways at the Edwin Mohney show.
Safety first.
Going for a deeper love connection, designer Anya Hindmarch hid #CHUBBYhearts all around London during fashion week.
I wish more pieces of art like this were in Chicago. Right now in Larry’s neighborhood, someone keeps drawing a different kind of chubby everywhere in chalk.
This isn’t London Fashion Week-related, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention JNCOS announcing they’re going out of business this week. Everyone knows Larry can rock the JNCOS, but here’s my friend Chase gracefully rockin’ the redneck runway of Chula Vista Hotel and Water Park at Wisconsin Dells Fashion Week (red Solo cup mandatory).
Speaking of water slides, this look would be a perfect day-to-night outfit in the Dells.
I prefer my Miami version floating fashion.
There are some things money can’t buy, for the DIY crowd at London Fashion Week, the brand Amish presents this sweatshirt. Priceless. They probably wouldn’t love being associated with this in Google keyword searches, but on the other less-proficient hand (pun intended), the whole no electricity thing probably leads to more pocket pool than they’d care to admit.
Alright, alright. Let’s clean this up and and get back to my captain, Christopher.
As I write this, it’s raining in London, and I don’t think that’s random.
From The Guardian’s recap of Bailey’s last show:
“In the first decade of his tenure, “doing a Burberry” entered the fashion lexicon as a new phrase to mean bringing a limp brand back to life.”
Before Larry in Burberry, I was limp Christopher. Thank you for bringing Larry to life.
