That spirit defined Burberry’s spring collection, a collaboration between Daniel Lee and legendary British textile designer Celia Birtwell. Birtwell brought her vintage happy-face motifs and created a fresh selection of botanical prints, which Lee scattered throughout the bright, energetic collection.
Skirts, dresses, trenches, coats and even shoes were covered in mimosas, blueberries, rosebuds, vines and violets. The motifs appeared as three-dimensional embroidery on pencil skirts, ditsy prints on trenches and hazy, impressionistic patterns on coats. Birtwell’s playful “Halloween” faces appeared on knitwear and as small medallions dangling from coats and kitten heels.
Lee also drew from the colors of an English garden, pairing lavender and burgundy across sheer, embroidered silk trenches that carried an ethereal quality. More structured trenches came in silk faille and taffeta, deliberately finished with wrinkles and folds for a lived-in feel. Some featured soft pouf skirts, while others had braided epaulets laid flat across the shoulders and arms, resembling stitched-on patches. As Lee explained, the imperfections were intended to make the pieces feel more human.
The collaboration was conceived to mark Burberry’s 170th anniversary. Lee said Birtwell was the natural choice, describing her prints as timeless and noting her inspiration from Burberry’s iconic check. Her vibrant, hand-drawn checks appeared across coats, bags and skirts, bringing a bold Pop Art quality to the house’s signature aesthetic.
Watching her designs move down the runway from the front row, Birtwell said she was thrilled to take on the project, calling it both fun and a creative challenge. At 85, she remains an influential figure in British fashion. Her work with Ossie Clark helped define the romantic, playful spirit of 1960s and early 1970s British fashion, and this Burberry collaboration introduces that distinctive visual language to a new generation.
