Saturday, April 18, 2015

Burberry´s London In LA

Fashion folk love a new discovery and it seems that Los Angeles is the latest, hottest happening. The city is undisputedly fast becoming the fifth fashion capital. Perhaps it started when Hedi Slimane set up his Saint Laurent office here, and really, who can blame him? (If you could, you would.) More recently, other designers have flocked here, too. 

Remember, Tom Ford bypassed the regular show calendar this season to present his autumn/winter 2015 collection in LA, while other brands are also drawn to the bright lights; Christian Dior was set to show its upcoming pre-collection here until Raf Simons caught wind of Chanel's show plans in neighbouring Palm Springs (urging Simons to switch horses to Cannes). But never mind all of that, last night the city belonged to Burberry and its affable chief creative and chief executive officer, Christopher Bailey.


The Yorkshireman hijacked the Griffith Observatory in Griffith Park (which opened in 1935 and sits across from the Hollywood sign) to stage a garden party and special one-off runway show entitled London in Los Angeles, featuring Burberry's autumn/winter 2015 collection with a sprinkling of new, exclusive looks. The domed venue, which is more associated with space and science-related events, welcomed guests at sunset. It's the first time a catwalk show has ever been staged there - and there is little Burberry likes more than being first - the show was premiered via the new live-streaming app, Periscope.


Upon entering, British and American flags lined the winding road, while a helicopter circled above to film proceedings. Plants had been especially landscaped and gravel paths laid. One could be forgiven for thinking Burberry might have even had a hand in orchestrating the skies to turn from blue to pinky-orange-ombre just as the venue was filling with VIPs including Victoria and David Beckham and family, Elton John, January Jones, Cara Delevingne, Suki Waterhouse, Rosie Huntington Whiteley, Mario Testino, and campaign stars, Jourdan Dunn and Naomi Campbell, who arrived in LA direct from Brazil, where Campbell hosted amFAR (her trick to beating jetlag? "Sleep on planes. And don't eat the plane food").


"To work for such an established brand from your own country is a huge honour for me," said the super, referring to the billboard campaign that looms large on Sunset Boulevard. "It was also the first time that I got to work with Jourdan who I'm a huge fan of and, of course, I'm always so impressed with everything Christopher does. He's also the lovliest man."


Who, people apparently just can't say no to. Surely, one of the biggest coos here tonight wasn't just the stellar singer-songwriter line-up comprising George Ezra, Tom Odell, Clare Maguire, and Benjamin Clementine, but the star turn of the Queen's very own Horse Guards on Burberry's catwalk, flown in especially for the show. Receiving permission was never going to be easy, Bailey told us.


"It took a lot of work and discussion," he revealed post show, "but we really wanted to bring a little bit of London to LA and so to be able to have them here in Los Angeles is very special for us." Convincing James Corden, however, to strut his stuff after Naomi's finale was a whole lot easier. "James is a mate and we talked about the idea of him making an appearance," he explained. "Naomi was on his show last night she was also very game on - she's epic."


In short, it was a night that ticked all the Burberry boxes: fashion, music, craft, tradition, and technology. "All the elements came together in the end to create something pretty big," added Bailey, deservedly bursting with pride.


The event coincided with the opening of Burberry's shiny new four-storey store - one of the tallest on Rodeo Drive - where Bailey hosted a cocktail party on its rooftop the night before. Boasting solar panels, it generates locally sourced green power and its garden has plants that require no irrigation. With impressive panoramic views that, it was pointed out, stretch all the way to a tiny white dot in the hills - the Griffith Observatory. Now, don't they call that a 360-degree approach? Burberry did it again.

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