A Very British Character Study
Review of Mulberry Spring 2027 Fashion Show
By Angela Baidoo
Eagle-eyed fans of both Christopher Kane and Mulberry will have noticed the newly, dedicated social media handle – @mulberrybychristopherkane. Setting apart this new chapter, and let’s hope, solidifying the designers legacy with the heritage house, in this precarious age of the ‘Instagram-wipe.’
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
The signature flap of the bag became an almost invisible logo, used as a design line throughout, from beginning to end.
In his highly anticipated debut, Christopher Kane lay his foundation through Mulberry’s heritage, a very British one at that.
Exclusively fashioned from leather, the Mulberry tree branding, and the codes that helped it become one of Britains much-loved fashion icons. Setting up his own personal signatures that still felt aligned the designer took the distinct linear pattern of the Bayswater bag flap and used it as a reference to create a geometric edge detail that set the collection apart as a worthy addition to the brands archives. The geometric angles of the bag were translated into “style lines” that brought to mind the space-age designs of Pierre Cardin and Courrèges. Yet they firmly belonged to the history of the Mulberry brand.
Not unlike Hermés, at least 80% of what was shown used leather as its starting point except for when it was substituted for glossy organza, nylon or cotton in a printed check or floral. Outerwear too, as a staple of every British woman’s wardrobe, felt fresh in reversible variations, high-shine PVC and a reinterpretation of the nylon anorak. In high-vis orange the designer said backstage that it was in reference to the coal-miners daughter, and was in reference to the industrial background in which he had been brought up. And when suggested by The Impression that it may also pull forth memories of the hit 1999 film ‘East is East,’ where the youngest son lived, ate, and slept in his version of the coat, he was happy for that cultural link to be considered too.
The sixties nostalgia mixed with the underlying edge of British sub-culture created specific chords around Tweeness (in the mini dresses), Britains know-how in its outer layers, the beatnik girl of swinging London, the Cool Brittania chick in her branded sweatshirt that took Kane on a trip down memory lane as he recalled its popularity on the football terraces in his hometown, and the British ‘It Girl’ in her drainpipe denim jeans and bomber. With the designer reiterating that when it comes to British sub-cultures and sub-cultures in general “We did it here first, mixing town and country. Industry with a little country mouse!”
The intention for his accessories – the brands bread-and-butter – were established with almost every model carrying an updated iteration of a Mulberry bag. In slimline shoulder, backpack, or top-handle silhouettes, with the exotic skins many were rendered in likely to contribute to a price-hike in the future – as even limited addition styles on the brands website are positioned well below the two-thousand pound mark.
This was a solid start from the designer, who the industry has been all too eager to welcome back into the design fold. And in the coming seasons we will be looking out for Kane to reintroduce elements of his own personal design archive where he made kink and quirk palatable to the masses. From the nods to fetish, liquid-encased rubber as a perfectly viable fabric alternative, and scientific floral diagrams as graphic pattern, these were innovative signatures during the heyday of his namesake label.
It would be a waste of his outsized talent if his ability to subvert domestic ideas were not unleashed under the relative safety of the Mulberry umbrella. As this partnership has the potential to become a long and lucrative one for all parties involved in resurrecting of both their good names.
THE WRAP UP
As guests took their seats for one of London’s most anticipated debuts the sounds of the city, or of all Britain’s most bustling city centres, filled the space. Conjuring up images of the U.K. as a hub for city, town, and country-dwellers who are drawn to the potential for possibility. And even though whatever Kane would have placed on his debut runway, the crowd in attendance would have still left satiated, this clear, singular vision marks a very strong jumping off point that lays the foundation for any number of directions the designer could take the brand in.
As he noted, the past is ever-present, but there was nothing nostalgic in the new sense of purpose that is being built off of uniformity that begets individuality.
