‘This campaign is about looking forwards, looking to the future - inspired by youth, it brings together a community of different talents and worlds as one. United by passion, commitment and love, this campaign is a celebration of their dreams, of exploring and of always going beyond. I’m honoured that Burberry can partner with Marcus Rashford and amazing organisations around the world to give back to the next generation, allowing them to explore their dreams. And I wanted to take that concept - of exploring beyond - to express a real sense of freedom in the campaign. It’s all about that fearless spirit and imagination when pushing boundaries, something that we hold so close to our hearts at Burberry.’
Riccardo Tisci, Chief Creative Officer
Continuing to celebrate community, creativity and the voices of the future, Burberry unveils its latest campaign. The campaign itself fosters a community – bringing together different creative spheres and juxtaposing figures from fashion, dance and sport. Dynamic, diverse and free, it is a unified world – a Burberry universe.
The uniting element is youth and exceptional creativity. The span of figures also finds an echo in society as a whole, as well as the communities encouraged by the youth initiatives Burberry is supporting in partnership with Marcus Rashford MBE – allowing people to achieve their full potential, to explore their dreams and to always go beyond.
The campaign film, created in collaboration with Megaforce, unlocks this idea, transporting the viewer from the everyday to the extraordinary, allowing them to explore a new fantasy. Directed by Katelin Arizmendi and choreographed by (LA)HORDE, a troupe of four young dancers explore a modern reconfigured British landscape, a choreographed terrain journeying from city to sea. Alongside the film, behind-the scenes content champions the community of young dancers – Kevin Bago, Robinson Cassarino, Chantel Foo and Zhané Samuels – showcasing their characters, their personalities, their hopes and dreams.
The stills imagery, photographed by Rafael Pavarotti and styled by Ibrahim Kamara, reflects the film’s fusion of different worlds: instead of land and sea, it is the combined creative realms of sport, high fashion and dance. The dynamic images feature a frieze of models and dancers alongside Marcus Rashford MBE – his debut in a fashion campaign. The imagery celebrates the community around Burberry: blurring boundaries, crossing divides, bringing people together.
Signature house codes feature in the campaign including iconic outerwear as well as trench coats, diamond-quilted barn jackets and hooded puffer jackets made from recycled nylon. Accessories include the Pocket Bag, an archive-inspired tote in canvas and topstitched leather.
As part of this multifaceted campaign, Burberry has joined forces with charities supporting young people across the world, providing protection, encouragement and empowering them to shape our tomorrow. A campaign of particular importance in such unprecedented times. Burberry’s history of supporting its communities is rooted in the altruism of its founder Thomas Burberry – a former apprentice who established his company aged just 21 and whose fundamental values of contributing back to society continued throughout his life.
This campaign represents the longstanding importance of supporting communities to Burberry – as the luxury fashion house pledges to support the voices of tomorrow to build a better future.
‘Burberry is THE British brand with strong ties to the North of England, which is really important to me. It is very rare that I partner in a formal capacity, but what Burberry was offering was different. Burberry shared my vision in bettering local communities through investment into youth centres, which play a pivotal role in the childhood of many, especially in under-privileged areas. We are all products of our community and youth centres offer children in those local communities stability and consistency to succeed at anything they put their minds to. Youth centres have suffered financially due to the global pandemic and closing them is losing the heart of the community. Burberry have led with action rather than words and the impact of this move will be felt for generations to come. I’m thrilled with the outcome and proud to call Burberry my partner. Thank you to Riccardo and the full team for making this process so rewarding and enjoyable.’
‘We found the idea of this film digging though Burberry’s history. The founder, Thomas Burberry, created innovative weatherproof clothing that was used by polar explorers, which gave us this idea of a story that saw its characters braving the elements. That iconic scene from the film ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ came to our minds so we wanted to draw inspiration from it and make a version that speaks for our times. This year has been tough for us all, so we wanted to push the metaphor and transformed the rain to ice blocks. We also changed the narrative from a single character to a group of friends because going through the adversity is a thing that we’d better do together.’
‘We had the best time on this campaign with an amazing cast and team. We wanted to create an epic, modern and unexpected film that has at its heart a feeling of escape from the unknown, something beyond imagination.’
‘It was really beautiful to work with the Burberry team and all the incredible cast and dancers for this campaign – there was so much joy on set. Freedom means no fear – and I live by that. For me, I find strength in community and the people I have in my life who keep me inspired and help me to see the world from a different perspective every day.’
‘The spirit of youth means hope, freedom, movement and curiosity. It inspires us and brings new perspectives and ideas to the world. Through it we can see beyond and transform what no longer serves us. Making this campaign was like diving into a creative essence and emerging by absorbing the beauty that surrounded us. Both the experience and the result awoke a freshness, an energy of pure joy that made my heart beat faster.’
‘Today, freedom lies in the possibility to act for change and we see dance as a medium to express that freedom and your emotions through movement. Everything we do should be to empower youth with a courageous spirit and to help them understand that they can influence the future and the world that they want to create. Our idea of community is one that centres on inclusivity and understanding, where we can have a diversity of opinions and respect for different visions and love, always love.’
‘This Burberry campaign was one of my biggest achievements – the whole experience was just uplifting. When I was young and dancing, those were my happiest days and my spirit was the highest it has ever been. Working on this campaign reminded me of those days, feeling young and careless, doing what you love regardless of your circumstances.’
‘I loved working with Burberry not only because I love the brand, but also because the team behind the scenes created this amazing vibe really celebrating the creativity of youth. To me, youth is all about discovering the world and building yourself – it means a feeling of power, a feeling of beginning and of strength.’
‘The strength that you can find in the community is unparalleled, allowing us to achieve things that would just not be possible alone. This campaign really has this feeling and captures that spirit of youth – it’s been all about freedom and having the possibility to dream and to hope.’
‘Working on this campaign was really surreal – seeing things come together on all fronts and seeing everyone so invested to fulfil its vision, especially because it was so imaginative. To me, freedom is an energy to harness, knowing that the realities we live in are harsh, dynamic and ever-changing, it’s an energy that braves these realities enough to imagine and dream beyond them.’
‘I had a lot of fun on this campaign – I’m not a dancer but I did my best. I love the feeling of being able to move, dance, think and talk freely – without freedom life is meaningless.’
‘I really find strength in community, especially in neighbourhoods and in workplaces at the moment, so I loved how we pulled together and found alternative ways to do things for this campaign – the new normal.’
‘I loved this campaign – normally we don’t get the opportunity to be active in front of the camera, so this really made the shoot so memorable and such fun!’
‘The spirit of youth is not related to age, but how you act in your mind – it’s a liveliness and an outgoingness.’
‘I love the freedom that comes with being able to just be in a moment without any thoughts, that feeling of being young regardless of your age or circumstances.’
