After settling in, Lee’s first order of business has been getting to know the teams. He’s also been making trips—to Florence, where the company has a leather goods and shoes facility; to Castleford for the trenches; and to the archive, which is split between London and Blyth, in the North of England. “I’ve been looking at the beginnings of the three major codes of the house, which are obviously the check, the knight, and the gabardine, and trying to understand how we can be inspired to take them forward.”
The brand was founded 166 years ago when a young Thomas Burberry started producing garments to ward off the British weather. He’s credited with inventing gabardine, a tightly woven waterproof wool, circa 1879. Functionality is the concept that Lee has latched onto: “It’s really [about] design with meaning, that’s innovative with a purpose, as opposed to just being innovative for a new silhouette or a new construction or technique. Thomas Burberry’s intention was to make clothes for people that were outside doing things,” he goes on. “It’s more of that mentality that I’m trying to get myself into.”
As the conversation turns to the actual fashion, Lee leans in. “Think about the trench coat—it’s been around for decades. So what is the bag that can stand the test of time like that trench coat? What is the shoe? What is the overcoat that lives legitimately next to the trench and will be around for a very long time? We’re thinking about the feeling of the outdoors,” he says. “It’s not necessarily about an overcoat, but also about warmth, tactility, and coziness. And about being on the move, and not being weighed down. I’m quite excited about starting with a winter show, because I think it makes a lot of sense for Burberry.”
Lee is something of an outdoorsman himself. During the year between Bottega Veneta and Burberry, he traveled to Botswana and Zimbabwe. “Botswana, especially, was incredible,” he says, “because it’s one of the least inhabited countries on the planet. It grounds you in a way to be around the animals.” He also hiked to Machu Picchu and went to Cuba—twice.
We won’t have to wait until the runway show to get our first clue about the direction Lee’s heading. Last month, he shot his first Burberry campaign with Tyrone Lebon, the London-born photographer with whom he collaborated at Bottega Veneta. It features Burberry classics, seen through Lee’s lens, and is set to launch in early February on all the usual channels. (It’s a more traditional media strategy than the one he implemented at Bottega Veneta, which famously deleted all of its Instagram content, then deactivated its account, in favor of a “digital journal.”)
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