PARK PLACE: Burberry is taking its outerwear show on the road with an installation inspired by the British park pavilion, a place where people gather, drink tea, and watch the world go by. Burberry opened the pavilion on Thursday at Neiman Marcus NorthPark in Dallas.
The space showcases a selection of pieces from the latest menswear and womenswear collections, as well as check scarves, bags and shoes. Burberry’s Heritage trench will take center stage alongside the latest iterations of the coat by chief creative officer Daniel Lee.
There will also be parkas, puffers, aviator and Harrington jackets lined with Burberry check. The Burberry pavilion will be open to the public until Nov. 10.
Burberry is also taking the hospitality part up a notch, offering Earl Grey tea and flapjacks, which are similar to granola bars, at the pavilion’s “tea hatch.”
Sarah Lubas, vice president wholesale & U.S. concessions, said Burberry is eager to take the “British outdoors to Dallas. Park pavilions are popular in the U.K. for social gatherings and as a way to shelter from the weather, so our installation is the perfect setting for our Dallas clients to explore our signature outerwear styles in an immersive and quintessentially British way.”
Lana Todorovich, chief merchandising officer at Neiman Marcus, said the Burberry pavilion is part of the retailer’s greater “retail-tainment” strategy. “This activation is a continuation of our focus on bringing differentiated experiences to our clients.”
The installation is also part of Burberry’s wider focus on seasonal outerwear, and on showcasing the protective, performance clothing in the Burberry archive.
Burberry’s latest outerwear campaign, which launched last week, features well-known faces including Barry Keoghan, Cara Delevingne, Olivia Colman and Little Simz. Shot by Alasdair McLellan in London and the British countryside, it was inspired by an old company slogan: “It’s Always Burberry Weather.”
Burberry has also been creating museum-like displays of archive pieces in some of its top stores, including the new flagship on 57th Street in Manhattan.
At its Regent Street London store, Burberry is displaying replicas of the weatherproof gabardine clothing that the company created for Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 polar expedition.
Burberry created the replicas for a new National Geographic documentary film, “Endurance,” which is about Shackleton’s ill-fated coast-to-coast expedition across Antarctica. The explorer’s wooden ship became trapped in ice, and later sank, although he managed to save the entire crew after several grueling years of travel and eventual rescue.
The gabardine outfits include a lightweight anorak, trousers and hood, and will be on display until Oct. 31.