As summer draws to a close, wardrobes are making room for autumn layers. Trench season is just beginning, and it’s a little bit more special this year: the V&A is celebrating the Burberry’s 170th anniversary with an exhibition dedicated to its most iconic creation – the trench coat.
Opening on 21 September in the Prince Consort Gallery, “The Burberry Trench: Crafting an Icon” will bring together rare material from the Burberry Archive and the V&A’s own collection, tracing the evolution of the garment from its practical outerwear and military roots to its status as a fashion icon.
Renowned globally yet quintessentially British, the Burberry trench is considered “a symbol of innovation, creativity and timeless style,” says Carly Eck, Brand Curator for the fashion house. “A myriad of objects from the brand’s Archive will be publicly exhibited for the first time – from early 20th-century catalogues to a Burberry trench coat worn by fashion designer Hardy Amies”.
Covering Invention, Craft and Creativity, the display traces the history of the garment from Thomas Burberry’s invention of cotton gabardine in 1879, establishing the trench as a popular item both functional and stylish, to its continued reinvention on today’s runways.
This collaboration marks a first step in a partnership between the brand and the museum, ahead of the launch of The Burberry Gallery in 2028, that will see a major transformation of the V&A’s fashion galleries.
21 September – 3 January 2027
Prince Consort Gallery, V&A South Kensington