Disheveled

Elegance

November 11

Emily Hoekstra

A profile on Christopher Bailey

TABLE OF CONTENTS The history of…3

Industry article…6

Analysis…8

The man behind the clothes

18 years ago, amidst a fashion industry largely dominated by Italians,

Americans, and the French, an unlikely young Brit, Christopher Bailey,

emerged; a man who is now responsible for all

aspects of Britain’s most definitive brand.

Although it was Burberry that thrust

Bailey into the limelight at age 30, the designer

began his high-fashion career early. In a

speech he gave at a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund

event earlier this year, he said "I discovered

fashion through something we have in the UK

called jumble sales. Places where you bought

old clothes, tried them on, looked silly - and

that's where I bought my first Burberry trenchcoat, ironically."

At a mere 23 he graduated with a Masters from the Royal College of Art,

and almost immediately had a job working as a Womenswear designer under

Donna Karan. He left in 1996, after two years with DK, to become the Senior

Designer of Womenswear at Gucci in Milan. There, he worked under Tom

Ford until 2001.

Over the course of his nine years in Milan, Bailey met and fell in love

with Geert Cloet, the brand designer for Miu Miu. Bailey split his time

between England, where he is from, and the home he had built with Cloet in

Milan. In 2001 Bailey joined Burberry as a Creative Director.

Three years later Cloet was diagnosed with brain cancer, and Bailey

moved his partner to Yorkshire so that he could be close to Bailey’s family

while Bailey was traveling. Cloet

insisted that Bailey kept working.

He lost Cloet a year after diagnosis;

the pair had been together eight

years.

In 2009, four years after

Cloet’s death, Bailey was promoted

to Chief Creative Director, with

authority over Burberry’s entire

image. This included advertising, corporate art direction, and store design, as

well as the design of all Burberry collections. The same year, Bailey began a

relationship with actor, Simon Woods, and the two are said to have been

engaged this August.

Burberry’s profits soared dramatically in the wake of Bailey’s direction.

He performed an impressive facelift on the 150-year old brand. It is no longer

a stuffy, old woman’s label, but a hip and trendy one for women and men of all

ages. Bailey has fused contemporary life to Burberry classics, and has excited

both the public and fashion critics in the process. The resulting product can

be described as effortlessly cool, or as Mr. Bailey puts it, Disheveled Elegance.

Bailey is passionate not

only about fashion, but

humanitarian efforts as well.

Alongside Burberry CEO, Angela

Ahrendts, he established The

Burberry Foundation in

England, an organization dedicated to “helping young people achieve their

goals and potential through the power of their creativity”.

Reflecting on his extraordinary journey, and how he came to be

responsible for revitalizing one of the oldest fashion labels in existence, Bailey

said "Dreaming is profitable. I wish someone had told me that when I was

younger. We all need to be dreamers because it does make money, create jobs,

and create excitement."

November 13, 2012

Burberry Goes Big in Chicago

By Beth Wilson

From:WWD Issue 11/15/2012

CHICAGO — Burberry more than

doubled its presence on Michigan Avenue here this month, opening a five-

story flagship that is set to serve as a benchmark for other North American

locations.

Despite a soft opening, the 25,000-square-foot store with almost 17,000

square feet of retail space attracted lots of attention, with onlookers snapping

photos of its painted glass, black chrome and LED-lit exterior.

The location represents the result of 16 months of construction, with

the London-based company building the store from the ground up, going from

two floors to five.

Burberry now has the largest stand-alone luxury brand presence on

Michigan Avenue, according to John Chikow, president and chief executive

officer of the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association.

“It’s great for the avenue; it’s caused so many other establishments to

raise the bar,” said Chikow, noting that nearby Coach recently remodeled its

Michigan Avenue store and Salvatore Ferragamo and Ermenegildo Zegna are

expanding their locations.

The ground floor of the new Burberry store has a 7-by-9-foot “digital

wall” displaying runway shows, ad campaigns and other globally

synchronized content. The floor also contains an assortment of accessories,

geared for gifting, and is the first North American location to have a Burberry

Beauty cosmetic counter.

In addition to the expanded assortment, the new Chicago location,

which is the second-largest U.S. store after New York, has private second-floor

fitting rooms with suede walls, mood lighting and an iPod dock for customers

to choose their own music.

Associates also act as concierges, valet

parking cars, making dinner reservations

and conducting personal shopping for

special clients. A makeup artist is on hand

for touch-ups.

Upper floors feature the men’s

Prorsum collection and a women’s shoe

salon, as well as the children’s collection on the fourth floor.

Later this month, the location will boast a black-and-white-themed

Chicago capsule collection featuring a women’s gabardine trench with ostrich

feather bottom, a men’s crocodile trench and women’s handbags in crocodile

and alligator.

The brand’s chief creative officer Christopher Bailey and ceo Angela

Ahrendts are expected to mark the store’s opening with a private event Nov

29, when the store will showcase images of Chicagoans wearing the Burberry

trench.

Analysis

I think it is fantastic that a revolutionary flagship is located in our city.

Chicago and Michigan Avenue will benefit greatly from being recognized as a

business and fashion authority. The store is innovative, just like Bailey and

his collections, and the new store has set a higher standard for other luxury

brands in the area, which will overall improve Michigan Avenue and the

surrounding Chicago. Aside from the infusion of high fashion, the

construction and implementation of a larger building has created jobs in the

area and an overall upturn for the local economy. This is exciting for both the

Burberry brand and the people of Chicago.

As a Designer

Christopher Bailey is well-liked within the fashion world perhaps most

for how he managed to bring a dramatic freshness to Burberry, while keeping

the brand’s original image alive. Burberry started with a classic trench coat.

Bailey still focuses on outerwear today. Even his Spring lines are full of

trenches, capes, and motorcycle jackets, in such a

way that outerwear always seems to be center

stage. Bailey also incorporates the color taupe into

many of his collections, recognizable as the same

shade of tan used in the iconic coats decades ago.

Burberry is best known historically for its check

pattern, but as that became dated and cheapened

by overuse, Bailey has used it in smaller amounts.

Bailey often leans towards a menswear

aesthetic (for women) and favors clean lines and

simplicity. Belts and tights are common additives. In most of his collections

one can see his strong attention to structure and detail as opposed to a focus

on prints. While his Fall lines are largely dark and neutral, his

Spring collections often have bright jewel tones, and even

neon shades. He consistently uses tweeds, leather, and

metallics to supplement and add excitement to the historically

tan and plaid brand. Most of all, Bailey keeps the label very

“British” stylistically, something that is even reflected in the

choice of music for his shows – he only uses British artists.

Burberry houses Menswear, Womenswear, Childrenswear, Frangrance,

and Accessory lines. As far as Womenswear is concerned, the target Burberry

demographic is that of professional women in her 30’s with a large amount of

disposable income. This woman is both modern and elegant with a taste for

classic style, but also a penchant for being unique in subtle ways. The

company markets worldwide but mainly Europe, specifically in the UK, and

The United States. Burberry has defined the wealthiest areas around the

world and has made a point to locate stores within them. The reason

Burberry has been able to survive all these years is due to the changes in its

target market. In the past the label was more in a “wealthy old woman’s”

interest. Since Christopher Bailey appeared on the scene, the brand began

marketing to a customer who would better be described as that old woman’s

fashionable granddaughter.

Outside of its own boutiques, Burberry is carried by large department

stores like Nordstrom, as well as upscale services such as Net-A-Porter online.

The types of merchandise offered at these businesses vary greatly from each

other. In department stores you will find perfumes and accessories, most

selling for between $100 and $500, while Net-A-Porter, which is marketing to

a much higher class, sells Burberry’s well-crafted garments like coats and

skirts that often retail between $400 and $3500. Its customers are willing to

spend larger amounts of money for things that the general public won’t

necessarily recognize as Burberry when they see it on the street. Sizes offered

generally range from XS (4) to XL (12).

Burberry faces competition from labels like

Gucci and Louis Vuitton, but has an ever-evolving

style very much its own which has helped sustain

the brand. In his Fall 2011, Bailey embodied a 60’s

era vibe modeled after Jean Shrimpton, In his new

2013 Spring collection for Louis Vuitton, Marc

Jacobs also jumped on the 60’s theme, seemingly

inspired by Bailey’s mod throwback.

Bailey continues to reference historical

styles and has been a trailblazer in his time for his

mix of modern, traditional, and trend.

I personally love the way that Bailey presents his

designs; they are never over the top but are often eye-

catching and interesting. He is truly innovative in his use of

structure and outerwear.