Barbour, Burberry and McQueen Put British Heritage Back on the London Catwalk

Heritage with a contemporary brief

Barbour, Burberry and McQueen will all show in London this week, a cluster of British names using home ground to argue that heritage can still feel current while luxury demand stays uneven.

Barbour, 132 years old and still making core jackets in South Shields, is due to present at the Saatchi Gallery. The house’s Bedale and Beaufort remain factory-made in Britain and continue to appear on the Princess of Wales. Alexa Chung’s work with the brand is part of the current bridge to a younger customer.

Two different tests

Burberry remains London’s most watched commercial barometer. McQueen, back from Paris under Seán McGirr, is a creative test: can the house reclaim a London audience without losing the couture tension that made it travel?

Together with Mulberry’s Kane debut and M&S’s first show, the week is unusually dense with recognisable British labels.

The stake for the city

Fashion weeks live or die on whether buyers must attend. A calendar that holds waxed cotton, a trench house and a couture name on the same soil is London’s best argument in years. The clothes will settle the rest.