Fashion 2011 | Burberry Prorsum Pre – Fall 2010 Winter 2011

Chief Creative Officer Christopher Bailey mined Burberry’s military heritage for the Prorsum pre-fall 2010 winter 2011 season with a battalion of weatherproof wool felt coats cinched with chunky belts, leather and shearling aviator jackets, and gabardine trenches. “This collection is anchored in history, and what you’re seeing is a roll-call of Burberry outerwear,” said the designer. “I love mixing different decades — but using modern fabrics.” He said the brand’s new social networking Web site, artofthetrench.com, got him thinking about the ways Burberry trenches have been worn over the years.

But there are soft edges, too, with Victorian elements, such as silk dresses overlaid with delicate lace and even lace-covered trenches. And Bailey easily brings hard and soft together: Wool sweaters have silky bow-shaped epaulets, while bows and ruffles take the edge off sharply tailored skirts and peplums add flourish to military-inspired suit jackets. Colors range from brooding dark greens and blacks to khaki and nude.