Christopher Bailey gave Burberry the Rainbow Check
Christopher Bailey has been working for 17 years at the luxury brand Burberry, both as creative-director and later on also as CEO. He was responsible for the very succesful revamping of this classic brand, which is of course famous for it’s gabardine trench coats; lined with the, even better known, trademark plaid in beige, black and red. (created in 1924 and officially named ‘Nova check’).
The Rainbow Check
Mr Bailey is leaving the brand in March 2018 and will leave the company completely by the end of 2018. The last collection under his supervision: The February 2018 Show, is not only a gift to Burberry-Lovers but also to the LGBTQ+ community. The collection was dedicated “to and in support of, some of the best and brightest organizations supporting LGBTQ+ youth around the world”. There has never been a more important time to say that in our diversity lies our strength and our creativity.’ – Christopher Bailey
And so it happend: ‘The Rainbow Check’ was created. Iconic! 
(A Swatch of the Rainbow Check, pinned to the invites for the Burberry fashionshow at London Fashion Week in February 2018.)
The February 2018 Collection is bursting with rainbow colors, hysterical silhouettes, patchworks, the Nova Check and white garments. In our opinion a wonderful collection and show! You can watch the fashion show (and pre-order the collecton) at burberry.com
“For the February 2018 runway show, Burberry collaborated with United Visual Artists on a reimagining of its work ‘Our Time’, an installation on special loan from – and only ever shown before at – the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Australia, as well as a new piece for the February runway show finale, ‘Spectrum’.”
“Burberry is supporting three LGBTQ+ charities in particualr: the Albert Kennedy Trust, the Trevor Project and ILGA, dedicated to broadening support for this community around the world.” (read more burberry.com)
history in a nutshell
Christopher Bailey replaced Roberto Menichetti as creative director for Burberry in 2001. (Bailey had been working previously as sr. designer of womenswear from 1996 at Gucci and from’94-’96 at Donna Karan)
The company was founded in 1856 by Thomas Burberry, outdoor clothing was the main product. The modern use of the term for gabardine as fabric rather than a garment dates to Thomas Burberry, who invented and introduced the fabric, he revived the name in 1879 and patented it. Gabardine was used as heavy duty outerwear for polar explorers and for military uniforms. The iconic trench coat began as the Tielocken, it was an unbuttoned style made from gabardine fastened with a belt, again patented by Mr Burberry in 1912.
(advertisement for the waterproof gabardine suit, 1908)
More recent history worth mentioning is the fact that Mr. Bailey “was the first to live stream his shows online and Burberry was the first brand to reveal its looks on social media, before they’d even hit the runway. “Burberry is as much a media-content company as we are a design company,” said Bailey.” (quote via gq-magazine.co.uk)