On October 3, 2022, Yorkshire born designer Daniel Lee joined Burberry as its Chief Creative Officer, a little under a year after leaving a wildly successful three-year stint at Bottega Veneta, where he single-handedly re-invented the It-bag, found a super-fan in the shape of Rihanna, and saw comparable revenues rise by 8.9%. In November 2021, in the wake of reaching this milestone of fiscal success for Bottega Veneta, he abruptly departed in what its holding company Kering stated was a “joint decision.”
Who is the real Daniel Lee? Meet the new Creative Chief at Burberry
Words by
Melanie Rickey
10th February 2023
His first campaign for Burberry launched this week, and in a matter of days, on February 20, 2023, Daniel Lee will show his first catwalk collection as the Chief Creative Officer for Burberry, a mere five months since starting the job. What can we expect from his debut? And just who is Daniel Lee?
This week, the first glimpse of what Burberry will look like under Daniel Lee was revealed, captured by Daniel Lee favourite Tyron Lebon. The shoot, features British talent like the young female rapper John Glacier, actor Vanessa Redgrave, models Lennon Gallagher and Liberty Ross, all of whom are pursuing typically British activities, mainly in inclement weather.
Vanessa Redgrave poses in a classic trench coat in Trafalgar Square, while John Glacier is wind and rain swept on the South Bank. In an accompanying video, (below) scored and narrated by Glacier, she can be heard saying, “Let it rain and let it pour, so cue the showers now.” The only thing more British than this is the heritage trench she wears while posing in a downpour over the Thames.
Little is known about Lee, a handsome, gym-honed, be-freckled redhead with a passing resemblance to Damian Lewis, and that’s how he likes it. “If I never had to have a public presence, I would feel much more comfortable,” he has said.
Lee, famously deleted Bottega Veneta’s Instagram while helming the house, and did the same with Burberry, wiping its entire contents last week, only to re-populate it with 12 Tyrone Lebon images showing the house's new British centred direction to its 20 million followers.
Of course, it follows that Lee doesn’t have his own social media accounts, because, he points out, “I don’t know what I would put on there that would be interesting.”
His arrival to Burberry has echoes - not that of his predecessor Riccardo Tisci, the Italian who ran Burberry from 2018-21 with tepid success - but of Christopher Bailey who helmed Burberry before Tisci from 2001-2018. That Bailey is another Yorkshire born low-key by nature designer, one who preferred his product to speak louder than his personality, may have been a factor in Lee’s appointment, too.
Daniel Lee, who shares with Bailey a similar down-to-earth approach to his work, has previously spoken about seeing him as a mentor, and perhaps it is also telling, that the first fashion show Lee describes seeing after graduating from Central Saint Martins was Christopher Bailey’s autumn/winter 2012 outing for Burberry.
Image courtesy of Burberry
A British outdoorsy luxury brand like Burberry surely needs a British designer who understands that life and style, and Daniel Lee undoubtedly does. “I’m from Bradford, Yorkshire,” Lee recently told Vogue, “very close to Castleford, where the [Burberry] trench coats are manufactured, and to Keighley, where the gabardine is made. So it’s very close to my homeland.” Certainly, Burberry’s CEO Jonathan Ackroyd is betting on Daniel Lee being the man to bring the brand back to both its British roots and the global prominence it enjoyed under Christopher Bailey.
So what’s Daniel Lee’s story? After growing up in Bradford the eldest of three siblings, Lee, who turns 37 on January 22, attended Central Saint Martin’s College of Art where he studied a BA and a Masters in Fashion Design. Following graduation in 2010, Lee began his career, (as did Christopher Bailey 16 years previously), with Donna Karan in New York before working with Phoebe Philo at Celine in 2012; by 2017 he was design director for the house.
Image courtesy of Bottega Veneta
He joined Bottega Veneta in 2018, ostensibly to take care of the clothing side of the business, yet his first success was an accessory, the “Pouch”, which swiftly went onto being the fastest selling handbag in the history of the brand. At this point, with just two solo runway collections under his belt – with one yet to arrive at boutiques - he was very much under the radar of most of the fashion world. This changed forever the night of the British fashion Awards in December 2019.
Amazingly, nine years into his career, Lee had yet to be invited to a single fashion awards ceremony. But, that night, having been nominated in four categories for his work at Bottega Veneta, he was obliged to attend, and quietly advised by the British Fashion Council who hold the event, to have a little speech ready.
Image courtesy of Bottega Veneta
First, he won brand of the year for Bottega Veneta, and was so thrilled, he ran to the stage, forgetting his notes. Next he won accessories designer of the year, so headed back to the stage, this time with his notes. Thinking he was done, he relaxed, but it wasn’t over yet. Next Daniel Lee was awarded British designer of the year award for womenswear. Finally, he scooped the top prize of the night - the designer of the year award. No designer had ever won four British Fashion Awards in one night. Daniel Lee had arrived.
A lot of the hype behind his quadruple win came from the Pouch, his soft, squashable clutch bag made from butter-soft leather that feels like a pillow, or a stress ball. A bag beloved of editors and influencers the world over, including Rihanna. It’s easy to see why, with its cuddly shape, it literally broke the mould of the so called ‘It-bag”, simultaneously reviving what was seen by the industry as a dead category. Other fashion hits followed, included his moulded Croc-a-alike “Puddle boots” a theme, no doubt, he will revisit for Burberry, and his “Cassette” bag, which blows up the signature intrecciato weave of the house, making for a graphic, instantly recognisable product.
Photography by Tyrone Lebon for Burberry
So far, so social media influencer friendly, and while creating popular products in poppy colours, like his “Bottega Green”, is his obvious power play, it is in Daniel Lees well-constructed, carefully considered clothes, and his passion for creating luxury wardrobe essentials honed at Celine – his perfectly cut high-waist trousers and cut-out tube dress being a case in point - that we find his working philosophy. “As a designer, you have the power to help people feel better about themselves when they get dressed in the morning,” he has said.
Photography by Tyrone Lebon for Burberry
Key to that, he says, is his ability to be part of real life, and designing clothes for it, rather than a celebrity designer complete with an entourage and A-list lifestyle, like many of his big-league contemporaries. Lee has been open about his partner, Roberto Bolle, a former principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre with whom he has recently bought a Georgian house in London which they are renovating together, but Lee insists he wants the focus to be on his work, not on him.
“Privacy gives you a valuable sense of freedom,” he told Cultured magazine, for which he posed topless in 2020 in a series of photographs by Juergen Teller. “In my role, it’s important to be part of the real world, to be on the street, to make sure you don’t become disconnected from what feels relevant and what is happening. If you can stay private, you can blend in with the crowd.”
Daniel Lee photographed by Juergen Teller for Cultured, 2020
Last year Daniel Lee shared his excitement for what was to come with British Vogue, and hinted at his plans for his debut autumn/winter 2023 show. “Think about the trench coat – it’s been around for decades. So what is the bag that can stand the test of time like that trench coat? What is the shoe? What is the overcoat that lives legitimately next to the trench and will be around for a very long time?
We'll discover the full story on February 20th.
