BURBERRY IS BACK: RICCARDO TISCI’S RENAISSANCE

In a dystopic video depicting models making their way through sand dunes, a moody under-the-bridge rave complete with stacks of loudspeakers and an entourage of blacked-out vehicles, Riccardo Tisci presents the Burberry SS22 collection. What looks to be the surface of another planet is actually Millennium Mills in East London, but the offering of garmenture is head and shoulders above that of previous Tisci Burberry collections, especially so through the immersive video experience complete with a unique sonic backing track – by Shpongle – cementing the unsettling, unfamiliar and otherworldly aura of the collection.

“I have always been inspired by music and by its ability to transport your mind – how it can connect you with times, places and people beyond boundaries,” Tisci explains. “Music has played a big role in my life, like a running soundtrack and energy throughout my youth. So many of my memories forged through music take me back to an incredible time when I was discovering myself – my voice, my identity, my creativity – sharing my experiences with friends and sometimes even strangers along the way. It was like being on a universal journey, brought together by a collective sense of openness, acceptance and opportunity.”

The soundtrack – which comes as a psychedelic, sorting algorithm-esque electronic backing – aims to bring people together just as Riccardo mentions above, a holistic goal for the collection as a whole: “I wanted the collection to capture that free spirit of youth and its honest and daring attitude, that sense of experimentation and fluidity. It’s a very raw energy that’s infectious, exciting and full of life. Like an awakening.” says Tisci.

The collection, in Tisci’s words, aims to appeal to everyone and anyone, transcending the niche upper-class Englishman that predecessor Christopher Bailey drew from – and appealed to – ever so frequently. So this one’s for you, or at the very least it isn’t *not* for you.