By Kat Herriman
New trench coat iterations by Daniel Lee at Burberry’s Fall/ Winter 2024 show.
The Burberry trench coat is more than just a wardrobe staple; it’s an emblem of British heritage. Crafted over a century ago by Thomas Burberry, the trench coat’s enduring appeal lies in its blend of utility and collar-clutching drama. Today, under the creative direction of designer Daniel Lee, Burberry continues to perfect and reimagine the iconic piece, pushing it to embrace the evolving demands of our times.
Burberry founded his eponymous brand in 1856 with a vision to create outerwear that would protect wearers from all elements. Dissatisfied with the waterproof fabrics of the time, which were often unbearably stiff, Burberry set out to innovate. In 1879, he invented gabardine, a tightly woven fabric that’s waterproof and breathable. From gabardine, Burberry created the Tielocken, a precursor to the trench coat. Its success laid the groundwork for what would become one of the most iconic garments in fashion history. The trench coat as we know it today was born from function, designed for British military officers during World War I. Its practical details—like epaulets for displaying rank and D-rings for attaching equipment, appreciated by generations of soldiers and explorers including Sir Ernest Shackleton—have since become synonymous with the coat’s timeless silhouette.
Made in Castleford, Yorkshire, for more than 50 years, each piece is cut from gabardine, the technical fabric that remains at the heart of the house.
Thanks to its quick adoption by the jet set, the Burberry trench coat transcended its military origins to become a symbol of British refinement and Hollywood glamour. When playing the fashion plate Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Audrey Hepburn couldn’t just run into the rain in any old coat. It had to be a Burberry trench coat. In Michael Curtiz’s Casablanca, what else can you imagine Humphrey Bogart wearing when saying goodbye to Ingrid Bergman in that film noir growl? Here’s looking at you, kid. Or how about more recent examples, like Meryl Streep in Kramer vs. Kramer or Daniel Craig’s James Bond? What do these characters have in common? A certain savoir-faire attitude and mystery that has become synonymous with the trench. Each appearance on and off screen has added to the mythology and the main character feeling it bestows upon its wearer.
Part of what has ensured the trench coat’s longevity is its unwavering commitment not only to formal appeal but to its meticulous assembly. The craftsmanship of the trench coat has remained a hallmark of Burberry’s DNA. Made in Castleford, Yorkshire, for over 50 years, each piece is cut from gabardine, the technical fabric that remains at the heart of the house. The construction process is intricate, with each specialist tailor taking a year to master the stitching of the collar, a critical part of the coat’s structure. More than 180 stitches are needed to create the fluid curve that ensures the collar sits perfectly on the neck, so that it can later be clutched madly during a climactic makeup kiss in the rain.
And while their collars are proprietary, it is perhaps not what people think of first when looking to identify a Burberry coat in a crowd. It’s the iconic Burberry check lining, introduced in the 1920s, that has become a defining hallmark. Originally used to line raincoats, the check evolved into a status symbol and emblem of Britishness. For his Spring 2025 collection, Lee rendered the house’s classic check in green and brown tones, recalling not only the landscape of the Castleford factory but his own childhood spent alongside it in rain-lush Yorkshire. In a deeply personal ode to the house’s regional vocabulary, he celebrated Burberry’s expertise in dealing with the temperamental British weather.
How To Wear It
Now that you’ve found your perfect trench, it’s time to build out the rest of your Burberry wardrobe around it. Here, some of our top picks of the season, available at Bal Harbour Shops.
Lee’s creative vision for Burberry reinterprets the classic trench by introducing new textures and materials while never losing its iconic elements. He has used Thomas Burberry’s original trench to inspire not only new coats, but also cargo pants and belted shirt dresses. These designs, especially the latter, feminize a traditionally masculine silhouette, blending heritage with today’s desire for more androgynous styling.
Honoring the brand’s history of technical innovation, Lee pushes materials to do things they haven’t dreamed of yet. He incorporated laser-cut daisy flowers into coats and flared pants made of suede with a water-repellent coating. For colder climates, Lee designed shearling coats and bomber jackets patchworked into a diagonal check motif, and aviator jackets with the Burberry name woven into the waistband. A cotton coat bonded with layers of technical fabric, and garment dyed to give it a lived-in feel, embodies the rugged-yet-sophisticated Burberry spirit.
Following on the muted kitten heels of quiet luxury, Lee has managed to restore a renewed excitement around British tailoring and its decades of references. This extends from his archive-researched collections to his selection of ambassadors like Naomi Campbell and Barry Keoghan. In this return to site-specificity and the trench coat’s roots, Lee is educating a new generation on an enduring example of great design and empowering them to make it their own.
Reading between the lines, one finds oneself thinking less about nationalism or British identity than the idea of preparing for the storm. There is an optimism in Lee’s approach to the trench coat that stretches back to Thomas Burberry—connecting more than 100 years of history. It is something about meeting discomfort with ingenuity and finding grace—and even, one can say, style—when confronting hostile environments. With global tensions mounting and climate catastrophe at what feels like an all-time high, now more than ever we need to find armor that enables us to feel good and powerful, even in the thick of it.
