LFW: Burberry Prorsum AW14

Burberry Prorsum is always one of the biggest draws of the London Fashion Week schedule, with its custom-built show space in Kensington Gardens to its starry front row, which this season including actor Bradley Cooper, Harry Styles, and Olivia Palermo, and its use of technology, with the show

marking the start of the fashion houses’ partnership with WeChat, offering the most personalised social show experience to-date.

For Autumn/Winter 2014, Christopher Bailey gave Burberry a bohemian vibe with its Bloomsbury Girls collection featuring slouchy silhouettes with abstract decoration in faded brushstrokes, inspired the British decorative art of the Bloomsbury set and Charleston, the country home and meeting place for the writers, painters and intellectuals who formed the group.

The models

swished down the catwalk while being serenaded by Paloma Faith, to showcase English-woven cotton silk dresses with hand-painted decoration with irregular hems cinched in at the waist with scarves. The swirling art florals were also seen on the classic trench coats, which were more relaxed, as well as on chesterfields and blanket coats in a colour palette of elderberry, cameo pink, blackcurrant and bright olive.

There was also a continuation from the menswear collection shown in January with the inclusion of sheepskin-lined jackets, draped blanket ponchos, and oversized carpet bags, called the Bloomsbury which featured one-off hand-painted artworks, rug motifs and an eclectic collage of textiles and embellishments.

As with previous seasons, the key ready-to-wear pieces including the personalised ponchos which draped the models shoulders for the finale, the accessories and the AW14 nail varnish collection will be available to purchase on Burberry.com until March 3. The exclusive hand-painted pieces from the runway will be hand-made to order and can be personalised with a name or initials for delivery in nine weeks, allowing customers worldwide to be the first to own one-off pieces from next season’s collection.

Burberry partners with WeChat

Always at the forefront of technology and fashion integrations, from live-streaming to partnering with Apple, this season Burberry teamed up with WeChat, the world’s fastest growing social communications app that has more than 100 million registered users worldwide.

The show marked the first in a “series of creative collaborations and platform firsts”, which will be seen throughout 2014, and allowed WeChat users to unlock exclusive audio on the inspiration and details and key runway looks from the Burberry WeChat platform, as well as follow show guests, including Angelababy, throughout their experience, receiving exclusive imagery, audio and text messages.

Additionally, WeChat followers will be able to personalise a digital version of the Runway Made to Order plaques with their name in either English or Chinese characters, as part of Burberry’s most personalised social show experience to-date.

WeChat is seen as a great platform to connect with Chinese fans, other fashion designers have also created partnerships with the social app, including New York Fashion Week designer Vivienne Tam, who offered followers the chance to participate in a real-time group chat during her NYFW show and to receive photos and voice messages from Tam as it took place.

Images: Burberry Prorsum AW14