Burberry Prorsum, A/W2010

In all honesty, I wasn't a huge fan of Burberry's new winter collection when I saw the runway photos back in March. Once upon a time I'd coveted a military-style winter coat, but that had been several years back and by now the desire had long diminished. Nonetheless, when my friend Lu offered to take me along to an editors' preview of the collection at one of the stores I jumped at the chance to see the clothes up close and personal. Hence on the hottest day of the year so far in Beijing, I found myself faced with racks of the heavy coats and jackets which had dominated their look for autumn/winter.

After a short talk by their PR director, I found myself coming around to some parts of their collection. What had me fully converted was the quality and sheer practicality of their coats. They were wonderfully made and looked so warm - though the weight of one of the men's coats I picked up was mind-boggling. Even in the middle of summer, I wanted nothing more than to snuggle up in these two:

Another highlight was the double collar seen as a design detail on several of their jackets. After years of jauntily upturned shirt collars, at last, a way of popping the collar that did not brand you as preppy.

At the time of being shown, this collection garnered a lot of attention from being live-streamed in 3D at five other locations around the globe, as well as instant click-to-buy function on their website which seemed to have a positive impact as seen here. Still, I hold my previous reservations about the desirability of some of their dresses, especially that shade of green they chose to align it with the military theme. Evidently, the femininity of the lace and satin dresses were supposed to offset the masculinity of the coats and the hardness of the boots (shearling-lined and adorned with straps or sleek thigh-highs) but both were convincing enough on their own. When the weather cools and the hunt for the perfect winter coat begins again, I know I'll be searching for my own cropped oversized looks.