Going Back To the Burbs

     Spring 2010 was a season of short skirts and dresses. After watching the Burberry Prorsum Women's show, this was apparent. But after watching the Burberry Prorsum Men's show, the only thing that was short was my patience! So I visited the boutique...when I was supposed to be in a music theory class :O

   I was much younger at the time (16 years old to be exact) and wasn't nearly as knowledgeable, but now I know the allusions and craftsmanship in the pieces I saw.           The brand has a very long history having been established in 1856. Thomas Burberry was in charge of an Army uniform department during the First World War. The trench warfare that took place in Britain was made even worse by the heavy rainfall and mud which made the current uniform very uncomfortable and heavily soaked.

     Upon hearing this, the British War

Department asked Burberry to design a weatherproof coat that would solve this problem. The trench coat is waterproof because of the incredibly compact fabric (which is gabardine). 
     There or more than 100 threads within one square centimeter of the coat; that's more than 260 threads in an inch! A couple months ago I visited the Burberry Boutique (which has grown three floors since I was 16) and asked about the rainproof fabric. Recently, they began a process of weaving in which they wax-coat each individual thread before hand; thus making the fabric resistant to any amount of rainfall.

    

(A rainproof coated cotton safari jacket seen in the runway show)

     Some of the features of the trench included: epaulets (to indicate the rank of officer), a double breasted fold (to keep the body warmer and protected)and D-rings (as seen attached to my trench coat belt) which were originally used to hang equipment.

     When I first saw the straps on the runway jumpers, I thought they were pretty cool and thought nothing else of it. Then one day, I realized they were an allusion to the straps Military Officers used to wear. 

Source:
wikipedia.org/wiki/John_J._Pershing

   This attire is called a Sam Browne Belt. Typically it is worn with only one shoulder strap (as seen on WWI general officer John Pershing), but another is put on when a pistol is added. Christopher Bailey, the brand's creative designer, took the structure of the belts and loosened them so they would hang. Instead of using leather, he used various fabrics such as cotton, wool and cashmere. The straps were sewn in at the shoulder and side seams. 

   As always, Mr. Bailey did an amazing job of keeping true to the heritage of Burberry. 

  

     Side note: recently, I was looking over some street style photos from last season and I came to realize the importance of black, grey and white. In literally every photo I saw, one or more of these colors pulled the outfits together and made them cohesive. This was very much the case in the menswear, just shown, with the monochromatic trousers. However, the womenswear of Burberry Spring 2010 proved this to be wrong with the color of the Classic Burberry Trench (my favorite color by the way haha).

     
     In the Womenswear collection, there was virtually no black/grey. The neutrality of beige  is just as, if not more, effective at pulling different colors together.

   Another unique part of the collection is the use of reef knots. After looking at the knotted fabric I tried figuring out how it's done. Pondering the geometry and knotting of each piece was very very    perplexing. 

   About a year ago, I was visiting the Burberry Flagship Boutique in Chicago. And to my huge surprise, they received a capsule collection with several trenches in the style of past seasons. I was very happy to see a trench coat in the style of the off-white coat above. Even better, it was in a warm beige silk-satin fabric! Looking back I wish I took a picture of it, but I finally discovered how the knot was made. 

     

     As soon as I got home, I grabbed some leftover fabric and made a swatch.

     The knot is made on top of another fabric. Before anything knotty (...:3) happens, two separate strands of fabric are placed at the seam (they're sewn at top left corner and the bottom right corner in the picture). The strands are then wrapped around each other, then pulled back and sewn into the seam.

Hopefully that wasn't too confusing!

Here are some of my favorite looks from the collection:           

  

 

 

And here's some pics of my Burberry London Trench:

 

To this day, both of these collections are one of my favorites ever. 

I hope this post was enlightening and fun! Don't be afraid to get a little knotty ;D 

(Info resources: http://www.alanflusser.com/the-trench/, http://www.army.gov.au/Our-history/Traditions/The-Sam-Browne-belt, http://lifestyle.malaysia.msn.com/fashion/the-making-of-the-classic-burberry-trench#image=1. Runway photos and details: style.com)