Burberry Prorsum AW12 Womenswear Show

I am the world’s biggest Burberry fan, having worked at Burberry in London for  over three years, I have closely admired Christopher Bailey’s collections and am always looking forward to seeing what new creations the designer will unveil.

Set in the beautiful surroundings of London’s Hyde Park, the Autumn/ Winter 2012 Prorsum Womenswear show started with an array of tailored tweed top coats, with cute cinched-in bow belts in dusky pinks and yellows brightening the look.  Checked blanket coats, fur collar harringbone jackets and oversized bomber jackets donned the catwalks, paired with 1940s inspired penciled skirts and tweed caps.

Given the designer has always enjoyed translating the British heritage into his designs, its no wonder there was a bit of Sherlock Holmes inspired looks in this collection.  “Elementary, my dear Watson!”  We have been recently been seeing a lot of Sherlock Holmes on the big screen (with Guy Ritchie’s latest adaptation featuring British hottie Jude Law as Watson and a much more cooler Sherlock Holmes, played by Robert Downie Jr) and as Sherlock has been given a modern 21st look in the recent BBC series (Sherlock Holmes & 21st Century London), Bailey has certainly used Holmes inspired looks (slouchy hats, long tweed coats) as well as looks from 1940s post war London and given it a modern edge.    The designer has taken us back in time, combining the thick wool penciled skirts and old english patterned skirts and giving it a contemporary look pairing them with tailored jackets and bomber jackets.

The military jackets also made another appearance in this collection, almost as staple as the trench coat, this time they were tailored, double breasted jackets with polished gold buttons, in textured corduroy.

The iconic trench coat has been reworked, with added contrast panels of cotton gabardine and tweed.

Fur and sherling also returned in this collection, tailored herringbone wool coats were combined with rabbit and mink fur collars.

Classic herringbone wool cropped jacket with rabbit fur collar and sherling lining.

Finally the leather bomber jackets have been given a new look, this season they were cropped with a puffy ‘down-filled’ look and military slant pockets – I also love the brocade winter dress worn with the bomber jacket below.

The accessories were not to go unnoticed either, I loved the oversized grandma-style dark coloured bags in suede and leather and the bowling style bags are back.  One of my favourite accessories was the ‘Mary Poppings style umbrellas’, these were given bright striped colours, complete with a paraquete handle (not sure if it is a talking paraquete though! 😉

I liked the fact the finally Burberry are using a much more multicultural line up of models in its latest show.  We are used to seeing the typical ‘English rose’ models such as Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and even though Cara Delevigne opened the show, it was a breath of fresh air to see asian, indian and coloured models on the catwalk.

Although I LOVED all the outerwear coats and jackets, I was left wanting a little more from the rest of the collection.  I think  it’s probably as I know I won’t be able to wear all this lovely outerwear in the warm weathers in Sydney.  On the other hand with all the rain we’ve been having lately, we might be seeing a cool winter (and excuse to wear these beautiful overcoats), but for sure there’ll be plenty of use of the Mary Poppins umbrellas!