Burberry Menswear Autumn/Winter 2016 | That Voice of Benjamin Clementine Anchored The Show

"Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" set the tone and theme for this Autumn/Winter 2016 Menswear collection runway show, which was unveiled early January this year (yes, that long ago, sorry!) at Burberry's custom-built venue at Kensington Gardens, graced by more than 700 guests which included celebrities, the movers and shakers of the fashion industry and media alike. Burberry has been one of our favourite British fashion brands and this one did not fail to entertain. What really caught our attention was the powerful live performances by Mercury Prize winner, song-writer and singer Benjamin Clementine, on the piano. For a brand that embraces technology, the Burberry show and performance were also streamed live on the newly launched Burberry app for Apple TV, marking a first for a fashion brand on the platform.

That evening (our local time), we stay glued to our space here, waiting eagerly for the show to commence. The hypnotic playing of Benjamin on the piano immediately brought us into the runway show mood, as if we were there, seated amongst the guests, mesmerised by his soulful voice, serenading the audience with numbers like Condolence, Nemesis and Adios while throngs of male models, dressed in a variety of military coats, capes, parks, bomber jackets (which we love), duffle coats, polo shirts in the hues of deep green, navy, black and white, and other deep shades like purple, blue and more walked down the runway, captured our imagination. 

We do love some of the bags presented that night, as well as spotted a glitter eye makeup look done by Wendy Rowe on some of the models, in memory of the news about David Bowie's passing right around the time of the show. The show also introduced a new bag shape The Satchel alongside new shoe designs, The Driver and The Derby and showcased some of the looks from its womenswear Pre-Collection which debuted in November 2015.

All in all, as always, it was an entertaining show from Burberry. It felt more intimate due to its new set-up, not the usual long runway that one has come to get accustomed to and we do love the collection. This collection was a celebration of the unification of the brand's different ready to wear labels and styles and we felt it has a certain youthfulness to the pieces, though did not stray far away from the brand's essence, which is classically very British. There was a sense of familiarity to it, yet made exciting partly due to the specially created band including a cellist and The Libertines drummer Gary Powell. We have no words to describe how wonderfully powerful and rewarding Benjamin's performances were, during the runway show, it was indeed one of the best live performances of Burberry menswear that we have seen, thus far! You can watch the highlight video here if you are curious.

Discover more about Burberry here and here for more details about this Menswear AW2016 collection. All visuals courtesy of Burberry and its PR team. Thanks again Burberry for choosing LUMINNEJ to live stream your show and be a part of this great British experience. Yes, it is still one of our dreams to attend a show from the brand, some time in the distant future and we shall keep this dream alive *_^ 

With love, 

Jeann