Nothing’s set in stone when it comes to fashion

The fashion industry last week was abuzz with the news that British luxury brand, Burberry, will collaborate with designer Vivienne Westwood. Of course tie-ups between brands and designers have now become a de rigueur of the industry. Take fast fashion brand H&M for instance. H&M did limited edition capsules with designers such as Karl Lagerfeld or Erdem Moralioglu. Louis Vuitton, on the other hand, has worked with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami and master shoe designer Christian Louboutin. And closer to home Dubai-based Saudi designer Arwa Al Banawi designed a 10-piece limited edition capsule for Adidas last year. It is a way of injecting freshness, creating a buzz and perhaps attracting a new client base. And the Burberry and Vivienne Westwood tie-up has had every fashion publication reacting with nothing but positivity.

Riccardo Tisci became the Chief Creative Officer of iconic British brand Burberry just this year. Tisci comes to Burberry from Paris’s Givenchy. He was the designer that Kim Kardashian turned to for her wedding to Kanye West and Tisci created a lace form fitted wedding dress with sheer panels. Prior to this, Christopher Bailey had been at Burberry for 17 years. The technology loving and very British Bailey injected a new feel of cool into the trench and plaid patterns that Burberry has always been known for. In constrast, Tisci is an Italian with a penchant for seductive and often dark glamour. His arrival seemed to suggest that Burberry was ready for a complete “redux” — one that steered it far away from its essentially English past. And now the announcement that Tisci’s Burberry, a fashion house that was founded in England in 1856, will now work with Westwood, says that it’s still going to be very British but with a twist.

Tisci, a graduate from a leading fashion school, has said that Vivienne Westwood is one of his inspirations. The outspoken Westwood, a 77-year-old designer was one of the pioneers of the punk movement. At a time when London was seen as international capital of culture, everything Brit was cool — be it the Adam Ant or the New Romantic movement of the 1980s, Westwood was the face of British fashion. She was honoured with the title of a “Dame” in 2006 for her contribution to fashion. With her Scottish roots, she has had her own take on plaid from when she started out in fashion, for her tartan must be loud and always a bit outrageous. Be it her ten-inch platforms, or Westwood’s corsets worn with oversized ball gown skirts, her clothes are about English eccentricity. And so while this tie-up did surprise, it also makes sense. And that is a recipe of a good collaboration in fashion.

The results of this highly anticipated collaboration would be in the stores in December just a few months after Tisci’s makes his runway debut for Burberry. This timing speaks of the confidence that Burberry has for this new phase, and that the fashion house is going to be pulling all the stops to ensure that Burberry is back to being the fashion house that defines “Cool Britannia” around the world. Of late, Burberry’s sales have been less than satisfactory, and its sales have particularly slowed down in the Middle East, which is among the brand’s key regions.

With a portion of the profits going to Cool Earth, a charity that focuses on saving the rainforest and is supported by Westwood since a long time — this collaboration truly has both style and substance.

The results of this highly anticipated collaboration would be in the stores in December just a few months after Tisci’s makes his runway debut for Burberry