LONDON — Burberry’s Riccardo Tisci is bringing the spirit of collaboration to his Burberry pre-collections with a new creative series called “Friends and Family.” His first collaborator will be Lea T, a close friend of the designer who has featured in Burberry campaigns, and who walked the spring 2021 runway show.
“This series is about a celebration of identity, style and family. I wanted to explore a different experience bringing my collections to life, so I have decided to open up my pre-collection to a new creative voice each season, someone special to me, who inspires me and whose unique creativity surrounds me in my personal life,” Tisci said.
“Creativity means freedom, and it is about empathy and communication with others. It is your voice, your identity, something inside you [that] you want to share with others. So, I was excited about the conversation that would happen when our creative worlds come together and see how their interpretation of my identity comes to life,” he added.
Lea T will contribute to the fall 2022 pre-collection, which will launch in January. “Lea is my family, my love, not only someone so connected to animals and nature, but also someone who is able to balance fierce femininity and an effortlessly gentle romantic softness,” Tisci said.
The designer plans to partner with “inspiring creatives from unexpected backgrounds” for each pre-collection. The creative partner will be asked to interpret the Burberry identity established since Tisci joined the house in 2018. The person will style the pre-collection with the aim of bringing “a personal creative identity” to each one.
Tisci is no stranger to collaboration and has often forged creative partnerships personally, and on behalf of Burberry.
For Burberry’s fall 2021 online show, he worked with the British musician Blane Muise, known as Shygirl. She opened the presentation in a blaze of light as she recited an ode to nature, creation and eternity. Muise appeared later that year in an ad campaign for the brand’s Olympia bag.
Last year, Tisci took up the role of collaborator, teaming with his old friend Marina Abramović on the costumes for the artist’s opera project, “7 Deaths of Maria Callas.” The opera, fruit of Abramović’s lifelong study of the American-born Greek soprano, had its world debut at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich in September 2020.
“I am a romantic dreamer at my core, so this was a very easy project to get involved with. The subject is one of love in all its forms, from the light to the dark,” Tisci said at the time.