Dispatch from London: Dancing with the stars at Burberry
In New York, celebrities and other pretty young things are given the ultimate VIP treatment (think private areas at nightclubs and concerts, and multiple security guard escorts before and after fashion shows). As I look around me at the Burberry Prorsum after party, held at Burberry headquarters on Horseferry Road, I realize that is not quite the case in London. To my left? Mary-Kate Olsen. To my right? Emma Watson, the face of Burberry’s fall/winter ad campaign. Yes, we are all bouncing around together to the music of The Kooks, who have arrived to do a live set (the lead singer makes sure to thank “Christopher.” Could that be Christopher Bailey, I wonder?!).
The show itself was a flurry of ruching, supershort dresses, and typical spring tones (although the lavenders and yellows had a slightly muddied tinge to them), with a few super-sparkly paillette-encrusted numbers in between. The shoes were sky-high and mostly nude-toned (and worn with matching, nude socks) and plenty of adaptations to the classic trench made their way down the runway—I’m looking forward to the extreme bubble hems and military belts.
Admittedly, though, it looked like at least a quarter of the audience was focused on the super-wattage front row. Some of the familiar faces? Gwyneth Paltrow (who looked genuinely concerned when a model stumbled right in front of her), Victoria Beckham, Daisy Lowe, Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, Alexa Chung, Agyness Deyn, Freida Pinto (holding the hand of Dev Patel, her Slumdog Millionaire boyfriend), Maggie Cheung, Liv Tyler, and even Twiggy. Plus, a gazillion superstar editors–I chatted with Hilary Alexander and Kate Lanphear at the party!
Besides a minor mishap with the sleek, embossed metal “credit card” that had my seat assignment on it (it sliced my finger open and the usher never did fetch me a bandage), Burberry’s return to London after showing in Milan for nearly 10 years was the perfect commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the British Fashion Council and, for me, was the ultimate end to London Fashion Week.
