Burberry Eases Its Codes & Enlists Central Cee for SS27
With a runway feature from the UK rapper, Creative Director Daniel Lee took the British label in a joyful direction driven by clashing florals and checks.
Summary
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Daniel Lee’s Burberry SS27 collection embraces a casual, lived-in aesthetic with trompe l’oeil details, departing from past formal designs.
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A collaboration with Celia Birtwell reimagines signature checks using bright ginghams and florals, highlighted by rapper Central Cee’s surprise runway walk.
After presenting a leather-forward, nocturnal collection for Fall/Winter 2026, Burberry Creative Director Daniel Lee lightens the mood for Spring/Summer 2027. Shown in a brightly lit space inside the Chelsea College of Arts, the collection eases up on Burberry’s sartorial codes with “joyful” patterns, lived-in materials, and more casual silhouettes.
Centering around a collaboration with British textile designer Celia Birtwell, known for her joyful style and ornate fabrics, the collection recontextualized the brand’s signature check patterns with Summery gingham iterations and floral motifs. Towards the end of the runway presentation, Birtwell’s touch became increasingly apparent as windowpane checks gave way to floral embroidery and embellishments.
Many looks combined the checks and flowers, adding to the relaxed, eccentric sensibility of the broader collection. A matching men’s shirt-and-shorts set was covered in a canary check, superimposed with emerald-colored foliage — a juxtaposition that was amplified in the closing women’s numbers. For another light-hearted twist, Burberry introduced a range of trompe l’oeil garments, which mimicked the appearance of various garment details. Knitted sweaters and light jackets featured false epaulets, and some dresses showed false pockets and belts.
Turning heads on the runway was a surprise walk from UK rapper Central Cee, who wore a lightweight crinkly nylon jacket with distressed charcoal carpenter pants, boasting subtle checks on the double-knee panels. The look anchors a range of more casual looks that depart from the brand’s fine tailoring heritage. Leather drawstring shorts were worn with floral camp collar shirts and striped tees, and even in a more elegant number, an ultra-wrinkly finish tones down the sartorial connotations of a brown gingham blazer.
In Daniel Lee’s words, for the latest collection, “There’s an intentional imperfection: the idea of owning a piece, living in it.” Turning away from a more proper and pristine expression of the label, it highlights the colorful and eccentric side of the British aesthetic. Following the stricter and night-coded FW26 presentation, Burberry SS27 conveys a spring in bloom and the long summer days to come.
