• by Barbara Lippert , Columnist, October 23, 2024

Barry Keoghan is an astonishingly talented Irish actor who’s been a scene-stealer in movies like “Saltburn” and “The Banshees of Inisherin.” 

So I was shocked to see him in this cinematic ad, sitting at a table in an outdoor café with an espresso, using the tiny spoon as a prop as he holds forth about “not feeling the feeling” and how shy he is with his “words.”  It’s gobbledygook delivered in a highly self-conscious, actorly way.  Thus, he comes off as a pompous jerk.

Mercifully, halfway through his bravura performance, the camera pulls back to reveal that Keoghan is actually rehearsing lines with the coffee server, she in a tie and apron. The waitperson gives him some great notes, like “the pace is good” but it’s too “repetitive,” which “dilutes” it.

And will he be ordering anything else?  What a savage way to make fun of the art form.

He agrees with the feedback and relaxes into his charming and funny self.  Boom.

It’s amazing to be taken for a total ride in 60 seconds, but that’s the magic of film. Keoghan stars in “The Puffer,” (the name of the coat with the hood that he’s bundled in) one of a series of unexpected and smartly compelling shorts released by Burberry for its “It’s Always Burberry Weather” campaign, developed by Burberry creative director Daniel Lee.

The weather slogan, taken, along with an old logo from the Burberry archive, suggests “the robust elements of the brand’s garments and unpredictable British weather,” according to a Burberry statement.  “Unpredictable” would seem to be a diplomatic way of saying cold and damp.

After all, the storied brand was founded in the English countryside in 1856 by Thomas Burberry, and by the early 1900s, the company invented the trench coat to protect the military from the horrifying conditions at the front during World War I.

The beige trench, with its iconic checked lining, became a dashing wardrobe staple for male actors in 1940s-50s movies (think “Casablanca”) and for 1970s male TV news anchors, like Dan Rather, to look jaunty in the field.

For the past few decades, I’ve admired Burberry as an uber-luxury, even urban, fashion brand, smartly using bits and pieces of its history to make (very pricey) forward-looking clothing.  

And that’s just what this campaign for Burberry outerwear does, featuring a range of modern brand ambassadors enjoying the reinterpreted classic styles: puffer, parka, duffel, aviator and down. It includes pop-ups, in-store activations, and inspired print ads by photographer Alisdair McLellan.

Of course, Burberry has long served British royalty, historically a sporty outdoor bunch. So it’s almost too on-the-nose to have Olivia Colman (who played Queen Elizabeth II for two seasons on “The Crown”) in her own spot (as the Queen of Burberry?) driving an ancient Range Rover along a country road, wearing a green quilted corduroy barn jacket, much like the one the sovereign wore.

Colman delivers a delightful monologue to a friend on the phone, discussing a dream about missing her train because she took time out to put berries in her hat. This leads to talking about all the remedies she’s tried to deal with insomnia. Suddenly, she runs into a herd of sheep that surrounds her Rover. She gets out of the car, all the better to show off the jacket. Surrounded by their poignant sounds and faces, she starts counting the not-so-little guys, in a whisper.

She says that she is tired, but we are not.

Each mini-film, directed by the duo rubberband, brings new energy to the overall brand and the signature garments that have evolved over a century. 

The house has also brought back a logo coined “The Shelter”, which looks like it’s from the 1920s but was used from the 1970s to the early 1990s. It depicts a stylized man and woman with their backs together, with their two dogs beside them, shielded from the rain by a Burberry’s sign.

Check and checkmate, Burberry: way to reengineer the vintage pieces, and the message, in a way that’s warm and timeless, but still edgy enough to stand up to the cold, cold rigors of social media.