Christopher Bailey
34, Creative Director, Burberry
By Marion Hume
Fall 2005 Style & Design
Christopher Bailey is what your mother might call a nice young
man—which is to say, a type rarely found at the top of the fashion
business. Yet Bailey has witnessed a rise in revenue at Burberry—from
$755 million to $1.3 billion—since he was appointed creative director
in May 2001. He wriggles in his seat at the suggestion that this makes
him a power broker, pointing, with reason, to the achievements of the
company's CEO, Rose Marie Bravo.
Bravo began Burberry's reinvention from a moribund English label known
for gabardine raincoats when she took the helm in 1997. But once she
snapped up Bailey, then working for Gucci, the brand soared. The value
of the company in 1997 was around $353 million. It is now nearly $3.5
billion.
In person, Bailey, who was raised in Yorkshire, England, is so relaxed
you might think he has all the time in the world, but he oversees the
design of the product lines, the company's image and seasonal
advertising. "I'm not a dramatic, highly strung person," he says with a
shrug.
The starting point for his collections is the trench coat that Thomas
Burberry invented in 1890. As Bailey explains, "it's not sizeist or
sexist or ageist. A small girl or an old man can wear it." Yet it can be
constantly re-examined. For summer it might be light and white and
thrown over one of Burberry's phenomenally successful bikinis. For this
fall, it will come fused with the kilt, with kick pleats to add greater
movement.
Fashion works best when creativity connects with business smarts. Here
you could call Bailey and Bravo the next Tom Ford and Domenico de Sole.
Bailey, however, hates being likened to Ford. "Any comparison seems so
arrogant," he says.
So, no tantrums, no theatrics. What about the trappings of success? "I
have a lovely cottage in Yorkshire," Bailey says. "It's lovelier than
anything I thought I could ever afford."
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