Daniel Lee’s third triumph with Britain’s most formidable and important fashion house drew an impressive who’s who of the country’s most in vogue—Callum Turner, Olivia Cole, Cara Delevingne, Central Cee, Iris Law, and Little Simz were all seated and primed for London Fashion Week’s most august event.

As an American, it feels risky and perhaps, well, dumb, to say that Burberry leaned into its “Britishness” especially hard with this show, but the temptation is there. The soundtrack, which was Amy Winehouse from start to finish, transported guests back to the late aughts. Winehouse, whose biopic Back to Black will be released in 2024 of this year, was such a gargantuan cultural export that—again, even for an American—those years felt decidedly…British. Agyness Deyn, who opened last night’s spectacle, was in every campaign and hanging backstage at every rock show. Burberry scarves and trenches were ubiquitous—from musicians to royalty to wannabe Luke Prichards drinking at the bar—or the pub, rather—they were everywhere. 

And so for this collection, Lee had decidedly revisited a particular heyday for Burberry and British pop culture as a whole, using that as inspiration and a mood board for a desirable collection that celebrated the brand and its country’s impact in modern times. This look at the more recent history feels particularly poignant when older questions about the British monarchy and the history of colonization are more rampant than ever. 

This is all to say: what Lee successfully pulled off last night was a “Greatest Hits” album that did not feel stuck in the past, as if the songs had simply been rerecorded for the modern day. The result was a medley of enviable olive and gray trenchcoats, zoot suits, deep V-necks, and Babushka-styled Burberry scarves atop various models’ heads. 

The diverse crew of characters that Lee created and sent down the runway, with Naomi Cambell being the show closer, told a beautiful, variable, and storied narrative about a brand that helped shape culture as we know it today, pointing to the fact that they will continue to shape culture tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that…

Such is Burberry.