Can Daniel Lee Give Burberry an ‘It’ Shoe?
Shannon Adducci
Style Director
All eyes have been on Burberry as its chief creative officer Daniel Lee works to modernize the brand and give it some oomph, since assuming his role at the brand in September 2022.
The designer’s debut collection for fall ’23 revealed that Lee’s Burberry would be anything but traditional, even if it constantly references Britishisms. The collection had plenty of clever flourishes, especially in the accessories and footwear, where British heritage nods such as roses and equestrian mixed with trends (fall’s push back into fuzzy and furry shoes) and products designed for actual seasonal function (weather appropriate boots, sturdy lug soled treads, woolen hot water bottles and lots of new iterations of the classic Burberry scarf).
Now, with the unveiling of Burberry’s spring ’24 collection for the resort season, Lee’s point of view is becoming clearer — and it just might include a path to a new “It” shoe for the brand.
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It was Lee, after all, who created one of the buzziest “It” shoes of the past decade, plus a trail of subsequent “It” shoes and bags when the designer was at Bottega Veneta from 2018 to 2021.
The path for Burberry and a possible “It” shoe isn’t quite yet clear, but spring ’24 does point to some opportunities. Overall, the collection reflects a market-wide trend towards more subtlety and stoicism, with plenty of black, white and gray to go around, particularly in all of the checks and houndstooths, taken from Burberry’s archives and warped to Lee’s liking.
Instead of overt shapes and silhouettes, the devil’s in the details, so to say. Footwear silhouettes are relatively traditional, with round toe heeled boots, chunky lug soles boots, classic Wellingtons and the like. A closer inspection reveals ball chain pulls on exposed zipper accents of women’s heeled booties, metal springs coiled around the laces of a men’s black leather creepers, rope-style metallic woven uppers on a pair of very-Lee sandals, and patterned padding of a pair of thong heels that match the wavy-checked hosiery (which match the wavy-checked belted overcoat) and handbag.
In the whirlwind of the viral trend cycle and persistence of a fast-fashion mindset, Lee’s new footwear at Burberry might not catch the collective attention of “It” shoes seekers. But as any brand knows, all it takes is a quirky TikTok mention for something to take off these days. And Lee’s Burberry has plenty of quirks to choose from.
