Celebrating Spring with The Birds and The Bees ... Burberry Prorsum SS2015 Collection

After images, words and phrases are powerful enough to conjure diverse sorts of reactions and imaginations, depending on how it is used. Case in point: The classic phrase ‘Birds and the Bees’. 

Since the Victorian period, the term “birds and the bees” was a euphemism or idiomatic expression used by parents to explain to their children about courtship and sexual intercourse. 

However, in the context of Burberry’s spring/summer 2015 womenswear show at the recent London Fashion Week, the title of the show itself could have delivered a slight shockwave or ruckus among the guests when the fashion show invitation arrived in their mailboxes.

Perhaps, some may have reached to an extent, thinking that Christopher Bailey of Burberry was about to conjure a show that’s equivalent to one of Madonna’s notorious world tours where sexual metaphors were the order of the day circa 1990s. 

Nevertheless, the colourful illustration on the invitation card was enough to serve as a literal hint to what the show is all about when it takes place on a sunny Monday afternoon.

Staged at the London Kensington Garden on a custom-built stage, the womenswear collection preview was attended by a host of top-notch celebrities and fashion authorities such as the current faces of My Burberry fragrance advertising campaign Cara Delevigne and Kate Moss, renowned Peruvian fashion photographer Mario Testino, “Fifty Shades of Grey” star Dakota Johnson, musician Paloma Faith, American socialite and style icon Olivia Palermo and film mogul Harvey Weinstein, just to name a few.

Just like its menswear counterpart where storybook covers serve as the muse of the collection, Bailey adapts the mood into the womenswear collection with the addition of beautiful hand-drawn illustrations of honey bees and oversized butterflies to create a whimsical prêt-a-porter collection that will send women into a beautiful daydream that is set against classic English countryside. 

Plethora of bright and pastel colours set the working palette tones, ranging from poppy red to fern yellow, pale sweet pea, dragonfly blue, beetle green and rosehip.

As British musician and singer-songwriter James Bay, also one of Burberry Acoustic artistes, opened the show with his live rendition of ‘Clocks go forward’, Bailey sent his models down the runway in a stream of delectable fashion confections whipped up by Bailey and his team. 

The collection reflects on the joy of the first day of spring. It is the time where the birds, the butterflies and the bees are awakened from their long winter hibernation and fill the air that is imbued with fresh floral scents, wafting from the fresh blooms that laden the green pastures.

Made up by makeup artiste Wendy Rowe using colour palettes from the upcoming Burberry SS2015 colours collection and all scented with the new My Burberry EDP, models paraded sheer dresses in layered wing-plate tulle and degradé silk propped with oversized ribbons that conjure the idea of springtime blossoms.

Wasp-waisted denim jackets worn over hand-illustrated prints bring forth a new dimension to the top that is oftentimes worn with pants or mini-skirts.

The hand-illustrated prints of oversized bees in heavy inked lines that adorn most of the pieces in the collection such as skirts and trench coats seem to serve as a beautiful allusion to the art of hand-drawn batik. On the other hand, the watercolour-esque butterfly prints adorning satin pieces are subtle and soft, reflecting the nature of the creature itself.  

Speaking of trench coats, for the spring/summer 2015 edition, the long-time Burberry signature pieces are splashed in hand-illustrated prints of bees and storybook prints and adorned with large sash that forms a beautiful bow when tied around the coat. 

To give the collection an edge is the use of various textures derived from materials such as degradé suede, iridescent sequins, glossy shell leather, shearing and textured silk.

Footwear such as the Burberry Field sneakers and sandals provide an air of carefree to the collection while must-have accessories such as the new Burberry Bee bag and Burberry Mini Bee Bag, pouches doused in book cover prints and the Dragonfly belts add capricious punch to the ready-to-wear collection. 

In an overall, Bailey’s spring/summer take for Burberry is enough to make one feel that the spring is eternally here, even if the wearer was trapped in the tundra iciness of the Arctic Circle.

Like the previous collections, fans are able to purchase and personalise the runway items, exclusive to Burberry.com from now until Monday, 29 September. The personalised pieces will be made to order for delivery within nine weeks, allowing customers to be the first to own pieces from the collection, months before it arrives in stores.

Burberry Prorsum spring/summer 2015 womenswear and accessories collection will be available at selected Burberry stores worldwide as well as Burberry online store next year.      

 

*Photos courtesy of Burberry

Burberry - 32/33, Lot 43b, Suria KlCC, Kuala Lumpur City Centre, 50088 Kuala Lumpur; Ground Floor, Pavilion, 168, Jalan Bukit Bintang, Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur; Lot G222, Ground Floor, The Gardens Mall, Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City, Kuala Lumpur.