Burberry Unplugged

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Since 2001, Christopher Bailey, the famously nice designer with the still boyish looks and rolling English accent, has rebooted Burberry as a brand known for firsts. As in, first to live stream shows and debut right-off-the-runway pre-ordering (2009). First global luxury brand to feature “in-Tweet” purchasing (2014). And, last September, first luxury house to embrace the new “see now, buy now” show strategy. Bailey, now 46, was among the first designers to sniff out the necessity of moving and thinking like a digital native. So the shift in his design sensibility over the past two seasons, with a (beautiful) new focus on slow, considered craftsmanship and provenance, seems like anything but creative caprice. When Bailey says, “It feels like the right moment for something that’s all about authenticity – in terms of work, craft, process, history, expressing something,” you know change is afoot.