{"id":13565,"date":"2012-10-18T20:03:08","date_gmt":"2012-10-18T18:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/magazine.theblondesalad.com\/?p=13565"},"modified":"2012-10-18T20:03:08","modified_gmt":"2012-10-18T18:03:08","slug":"interview-with-christopher-bailey-from-burberry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theblondesalad.com\/en\/chiara-ferragni\/interview-with-christopher-bailey-from-burberry\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Christopher Bailey from Burberry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"299389_420537227999542_471191784_n-copia\"<\/a><\/p>\n

CHIARA: As a chief creative director of Burberry you take care of the image of the brand
\nfrom different point of views including advertising campaign, direction of the
\ncompany, and of course all the Burberry creations of the collection and pieces. What is
\nyour real passion among all these tasks? If you could just choose one of these activities
\nwould it be creating the collection or you are also interested in something else right
\nnow?<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER: Well this is a difficult question, I love the fact that I work with
\neverything that has to do with the brand, the product, the environment, the online,
\nthe architecture, the web design, because I am somebody that loves making things,
\nmaking experiences, creating things that people love to engage with. So it would be
\nvery difficult if I had to choose one, I can\u2019t decide, it\u2019s impossible. I love fashion, I love
\narchitecture and I love image making so if I can, I would put all these three in one pot.<\/p>\n

CHIARA: Yes I understand, so it\u2019s not just the creative procession of a collection.<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER: I love the creative process of the research, development, but I love also
\nwhen it comes to reality, it has to be an experience. I don\u2019t care if it is an experience
\nwhile you are trying something on, whether you are in a physical place, or whether you
\nare online kind of playing, I love that you can create stories and atmospheres wherever
\nyou are.<\/p>\n

CHIARA: Nice answer! Burberry now has a big range of products; do you
\nthink there is a big main theme among all these different categories and if yes is it
\ndifficult to keep it or it becomes really natural with the brand.<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER: Yes I think it becomes really natural with the brand, we kind of split the
\ncollection in three different areas: there is Prorsum which is kind of real fashion that
\nmoves everything forward, Burberry London that is a little bit more urban, that you
\nmight wear when u need something if you go to work, its something that you can wear
\nin town cities, while Brit is more something that you can wear over the weekend, and
\nis more relaxed.<\/p>\n

CHIARA: What did Burberry mean to you when you started working in the company
\nand what does Burberry mean to you right now?<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER: When I first started working for Burberry I new the company very well
\nbecause it was part of my culture; you now by being British you kind of grow with
\nit. My grandfather had a trench coat so that was probably my first interaction with
\nBurberry and than it kind of just becomes part of you.
\nWhat it means to me right now, it means lots of different experiences: it gave me the
\nmost incredible life, I have been able to meet wonderful people, I have been able to
\nwork with incredible team and to kind of do a dream job, to take something that has
\nthis magical history and this incredible heritage and to be able to bring to it in our
\ngeneration. We kind of give it to it a point of view that has relevance today.<\/p>\n

CHIARA: This is the first woman’s boutique in Milan and is the first flagship store
\ndedicated to the woman collection like Burberry Prorsum, Burberry London and
\nBurberry Brit, accessories, glasses watches and fraguences, is this new store inspired
\nby the Regent Street store which was just inaugurated in London?<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER: Yes, the opening of the Regent Street store was kind of a defining
\nmoment for the brand. There you can find all the different worlds that we have, it
\nis basically the kind of physical version of everything that we have online. What we
\nwanted to do in Milan in this store in Montenapoleone is just kind of take these two
\ncollections, Prorsum and London, and all the bags, shoes and put all in one place, using
\nall the elements and the craft pieces that we have developed for the Regent Street
\nstore. We wanted this kind of authentic living piece of Britain in Montenapoleone. It is
\nsuch a thrill to be in this street; you know Milan is like a second home for me as I spent
\na lot of time here and I still spend a lot of time here, so being here is a real thrill.<\/p>\n

CHIARA: Of course I have been to the Regent Street store and I\u2019ve had the feeling that
\nthe digital world was really meeting the real world, and it was such an unbelievable
\nproject. How did you come up with the idea of that store, what was your biggest goal
\nwhen you where thinking about it.<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER: The goal was kind of this physical world meeting this virtual world, and
\nthe merging of those two different worlds. We wanted to play in that store, we wanted
\nto push boundaries, we have things like radio frequency identification where you can
\nput a bag, lift up a bag or put on a trench coat and in the mirror all the videos change
\nand you can see how that coat was worn on the runway or how that bag was made.
\nWe wanted to have lots of things that were animations where you just kind of explore
\nand kind of immerse yourself into these different worlds. You know sometimes it is
\nwonderful just to shop but sometimes you just want to enjoy things and watch people,
\nso we wanted the store to be somewhere where you can just sit down and enjoy the
\nexperience.<\/p>\n

CHIARA: From 1 to 10, how is it important to you the store design?<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER: if you consider 10 being the most important, I would say 20!! It is really
\nimportant, it is important that people feel relaxed, comfortable and welcomed and that
\nis not intimidating and that it means something to the brand. For example, in this store
\nall the woodwork is done by UK craft people as well as the furniture, which is also
\ncoming from the UK. We try to put all the collection in an environment where the video
\nand all the present content all relate so that you feel coming into a world and explore
\nit.<\/p>\n

CHIARA: Well you can really see that. You are doing such a great job!<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER: Oh Thank you!<\/p>\n

CHIARA: Is it difficult to coordinate the heritage of a brand with the innovation of a
\ncollection and its big presence online?<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER: It\u2019s not difficult, it\u2019s exiting. I love this, you know it\u2019s really what the
\nBritish culture is about, these contradictions, formality mixed with innovation, things
\nthat kind shouldn\u2019t be together.
\nI love this idea of the contradiction of this authentic historic heritage of a brand 156
\nyears old, mixed with piny ring technology and new ways of communicating. I feel that
\nthis position makes it exiting and makes it relevant as well. Cause I think that we all
\nwant something that is familiar and something that is true but I also think that we all
\nwant to move forward.<\/p>\n

CHIARA: I know that digital activities is at the core of Burberry strategic plans, when
\ndid you start to understand the big power of the Internet world?<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER: I think there was never a light ball moment. We sometimes describe
\nourselves as an old young company; well old because it\u2019s historic, and young because
\nit\u2019s a very young team, so it would be count intuitive to bring online world at work. We
\nall live online, well especially you, your job is based online, so it would be kind of wired
\nif we do everything online in our private life but when we come to work we all shut it
\ndown! What we felt is that we were talking to a younger consumer, a younger person
\nthat wanted to experience the brand therefore you have to talk in that language, and
\nits a language that seats very comfortable with the core of the brand.<\/p>\n

CHIARA: Why do you think there is still such a big difference between Burberry and the
\nother luxury brands, digitally speaking? How come Burberry started working on the
\nweb such a long time ago before all the other brands?<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER: I guess we never tried to follow what everyone else was doing; we really
\nwanted to do what felt right for us. Everyone has to follow his or her own journey
\nand for us it was just very natural to follow a digital technology journey. But for some
\npeople its not important, they come from a very different background and maybe they
\ndon\u2019t see how exiting it is. You know for me its the same, is just another platform, I
\nlove creating physical spaces, I love creating furniture and I love creating products
\nand clothes and bags, but I also love creating experiences online and that way of
\ncommunicating. This is something incredibly stimulating about the fact that you can
\ncreate something and than you press one button and the whole world can suddenly
\nsee it. It\u2019s a vey kind of modern phenomena and I am intrigued by it.<\/p>\n

CHIARA: If you could pick someone from the past to be the testimonial of the brand,
\nwho would you chose? Is there someone that you prefer or that you think would be the
\nBurberry woman?<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER: Norman Parkinson wife is an extraordinary woman, very beautiful and
\ncleaver, so I think she could be the one.<\/p>\n

CHIARA: I have also red that Burberry just launched with Britain a new collection of
\nwatches for men and women to celebrate the 156 years of history of the brand. It is a
\ncollection compound by four different movements shot by Mario Testino in London
\nwith a cast of British upcoming talents. Why have you decided to create a collection of
\nwatches for this occasion?<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER: I felt that we didn\u2019t have a watch that had the kind of sincerity of the
\ntrench coat. I felt that we had a very strong seasonal watches collection and but we
\nneeded to develop one that really set the same attitude and philosophy of the trench
\ncoat, that is one piece for men and for women and that it can go for day to evening
\nto casual to smart, kind of touch all the world; something that had a little bit more of
\nclassic and timeless design but still feels very British.
\nWith the ad campaign, what I tried to do there is to show different characters coming
\nfrom different worlds, Gabriella who is an actress, Rob who is a musician and Harry
\nwho is an art dealer.<\/p>\n

CHIARA: The testimonial represents the different model through on their personality?<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER: Yes, the people and the images kind of represent the different worlds,
\nwhether you are in a very formal world like the art world, very classical, or if you are
\nin a rock band, its still the same watch and it just kind of adapt the different worlds.<\/p>\n

CHIARA: Is there a watch that you prefer among these? Or you like all of them?<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER: I like the chronographer with the black alligator strap.<\/p>\n

CHIARA: My last question: I would really like my followers to know about the Burberry
\nFoundation, I know it was created by you and Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendt\u00a0in 2008. Could you
\nexplain me what is it exactly?<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER: Yes this is a wonderful question! We set up this foundation to empower
\nyoung people with their creativity, to try to give a helping hand to young people who
\nmaybe are not living a very happy or with privileged life. We want to really open
\nup someone’s mind, not everything is academic based. You know, creativity can
\nempower lots of very exiting journeys in life and you can develop your character, your
\npersonality, your future, if you learn how to think in a creative way and that does not
\nmatter whether you are doing something typically creative like design or if you are in
\nbusiness with numbers, you can still have a vey creative mind set. It was all based on
\ncreativity and design thinking and empowering people underprivileged.<\/p>\n

CHIARA: This is fantastic, how did you come up with this ides? And did you make a
\nchange for some of these young talents? What does make you think the fact that you
\nprobably made a change in their lives?<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER: It\u2019s very humbling. It\u2019s one of the most fulfilling things that we do at
\nBurberry. You know, we are very lucky, we work with incredibly talent people and we
\ncan create lots of different things such as film or coat, bag, building or an experience
\nonline. However I have to say that when you are working with these young people
\nthat really have king of nothing going on in their lives, there is nothing behind their
\neyes, but then when you show them a different way of thinking and they discover
\nhuge talents, seeing the smiles in their faces is the biggest reward you can get. We
\nhave hired so many of these young talents. It is the most rewording thing that anyone
\nof us do. It was something that we felt that as the company was growing, the brand
\nwas getting bigger and stronger, we wanted to give back in the communities that we
\nwork in. We also considered the fact that not everyone has a lucky and privileged
\nbackground and I am not talking only financial wise but even the support that you
\nmight get, and if we are able to give that support and kind of hold people hands while
\nthey go through their difficult journey in their lives than we are very lucky to be able to
\ndo that.<\/p>\n

CHIARA: Thank you so much. I really think my followers will be very interested
\nto know about the foundation.<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER: I am very happy to hear about that and if you have any more question
\nabout the foundation please don\u2019t hesitate to ask, we would be more that happy to give
\nall the information you need. This project is really brilliant; it is about all of us giving
\nback, its culture. This project is not just money, yes of course we raise money to help
\nthese young underprivileged kids, but we also give a lot of time, and often time is more
\nimportant than the money.<\/p>\n

CHIARA: Thank you very much. Can I ask one more thing? A picture together?<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER: Of course!! Thank you so much!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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