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The Run-Through with Vogue
Chief Creative Officer Daniel Lee on Burberry and the Brits Who Inspire Him
00:20:09
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- [00:01]
Cho Minardi
This episode of the Run through is brought to you by eBay. EBay. It's the place to fall in love with new, pre loved vintage and rare fashion over and over again. Your favorite designers, expertly authenticated. Yeah, ebay. Things people love. This is Cho Minardi and you're listening to the Run Through. Today I wanted to bring you a special episode featuring a live conversation I had with Dan Daniel Lee, the chief Creative officer of Burberry, as part of Vogue's Lightroom exhibit in London, which explores the history of fashion and design on the Runway. I really could not imagine a better place to talk with Daniel, being that Burberry is the ultimate British brand. Daniel took the helm as Chief Creative Officer at Burberry in 2022 after his role as Creative Director at Bottega Veneta and has been wowing us ever since with his ability to embrace legacy as well as innovation for the brand. We recorded this conversation just ahead of his autumn winter 2025 ready to wear show. It was fantastic. And I love talking with Daniel about how art and music informs his work because there was so many people of that world at his show. I mean, I was, from where I was sitting, I could see Lauryn Hill and her daughter and Skepta was there. You know, he always brings together such an incredible crowd. So enjoy. So welcome, Daniel.
- [01:31]
Daniel Lee
Thank you.
- [01:32]
Cho Minardi
So this evening we're going to dig deep into the nuances of Daniel's creative vision and the rich world that he's built at Burberry. I think about Burberry and this like Titanic history that it has, it's 170 year long legacy. And I really feel that since you've arrived and you arrived in 2022, you sort of set about balancing this idea of the history and imbuing it with a sense of sort, sort of like contemporary relevance. So tell me a bit about how you begin building the foundations of, like a house with such a big legacy.
- [02:09]
Daniel Lee
I mean, I think Burberry you could liken to Titanic. You know, it's huge. But I think no matter how big the size, I think any brand really, you know, it boils down to people. And it's a few people making work and making decisions that they love and they believe in. You know, teamwork is super valuable and super important in our industry. So everything really does start with the team. And I think when you work for a brand with such a beautiful past, you know, it's really, it's an incredible starting point to look at the history, look at the archive, think about what were those founding principles? What was the founder thinking when, you know, Thomas Burberry, when he began, you know, he really was making clothes to protect people. But people having that had real lives that people that were exploring, that were outside, that were. Yeah, I think Burberry's really a brand to be lived in.
- [03:07]
Cho Minardi
And what's your personal relationship with Burberry? Because I feel like we all kind of. It's a brand that we've all known, we've all grown up with. If you're British, you know, Burberry. So what was your relationship to it?
- [03:18]
Daniel Lee
Yeah, I think Burberry is pretty inescapable in this country, you know. And what's beautiful about this particular brand is the breadth of the audience that it appeals to. You know, I think growing up here, we see Burberry Warren. We saw Burberry Warren on the Queen, you know, when she's having summer vacations in Balmoral. You also might see it on EastEnders. You know, I remember someone wearing a Burberry Check Scrunchie in EastEnders when I was a kid. You know, that's what's quite magical about it.
- [03:46]
Cho Minardi
What do you think sort of at the heart of. It defines this sense of Britishness that's at the heart of Burberry? Like, how would you get to that essence?
- [03:56]
Daniel Lee
I mean, Britishness is a real vague notion, you know, And I think there is no hard and fast answer to that. I mean, for me, the things that I think that are great about our country and the things that we want to celebrate, really, I would say two things. The people I've been fortunate enough to live around the world. But I think the one thing that I always missed about London really was the conversation. Because there's so much variety in heritage and background, in opinion in this country. And I think people have never been afraid to kind of speak their mind. And that informs great work and great thinking. And then, yeah, creativity is something that I think we're pretty world class. You know, we're sat next to St. Martin's which is one of the best art schools on the planet. And we are pioneers in music, in film, in art, in theater, in dance. And all those great things are what we want to celebrate at Burberry.
- [04:49]
Cho Minardi
I mean, one thing that I think in the conversations that you and I have had, as well as this sort of, like, big sense of vision, you're also very invested in the process. And I'd love to talk to you a little bit about how that comes to life, how a collection comes together. Cause I know, that's something that you really enjoy.
- [05:07]
Daniel Lee
Yeah, the process is, for me, the most enjoyable part of my job. Obviously the show shows the magical moments. They're great unveiling moments to the world. But the day to day is a real pleasure. I'm fortunate, as I said, to have a really great team. I mean, some of the people in my team I was together at school with in St. Martin. So that was. Yeah, that was really the beginning. And I think St. Martin's is a great network and inspiration comes in many forms. You know, I think a lot of it is conversation, it's feeling, it's reacting to what's going on around you. At the beginning of the season, there's always a big moment of research, of kind of looking and thinking and that kind of continues right through to the end. But I would say there always comes a point. And this is the part that personally, for me is the most enjoyable, is really the moment that you let go of the inspiration and you work with instinct and you work with what that particular object that you have in front of you happens to be. You know, you think you, maybe you're thinking about it's a dress or it's a shoe or it's a handbag. How do you make that object better? How do you make it simpler? How do you make it answer the question in an easier way? And really connecting with one's instinct, I think that gives me a lot of pleasure because it's really about being in the moment.
- [06:23]
Cho Minardi
Totally. I mean, what do you, what do you think makes a good team?
- [06:28]
Daniel Lee
When it feels like a collaboration, When I don't feel like the boss, when it feels like everyone is in a safe space and they're free to offer opinion because no one's always right all the time. And I may be the creative director, but it doesn't necessarily mean my idea is the best in the room. You know, I think creating that safe space within the team where everyone feels they can contribute, for me, that's the magic.
- [06:58]
Cho Minardi
We're going to take a quick break. Back in a moment. When your love for sneakers has you chasing limited editions, classics and rare finds, go to ebay, score your once in a Blue moon pair and check off your wish list for those fresh kicks. Get authentic streetwear and expert verified accessories. Think timeless watches, vintage designer bags and more jewellery than you can ever wear. EBay. The place for new, pre loved, vintage and rare fashion. Yeah, eBay. Things people love. I think you've also done a really great job of creating a community around the brand. And when I think about all the people, you know, from Lennon Gallagher to Olivia Colman, Mary Berry, I think there's been a real sense of like, who the people are that sort of like stand for the brand and who your people are.
- [08:07]
Daniel Lee
I think we're in the uk, we're so fortunate with our sense of community here. I mean, it's a no brainer really. You know, there's so much great talent from Little Sins, Kano Skepta. You know, we're surrounded by, by greats. The way that we choose people to work with, it's never about the size of their following or, you know, whether or not they're considered, like hip and of the moment. It's really about connecting with them on a level that we really admire their artistry. I think that's what all the people here have in common. You know, they're determined, they work incredibly hard, they're the best at what they do.
- [08:44]
Cho Minardi
And how does that sort of approach translate when it comes to casting around a show? And how soon in the creative process do you start having those conversations about casting? Because, I mean, there've been so many surprises. I think Maya Wigram, who's Phoebe Filo's daughter, was like the talk of that season. And then bringing back Agnes Dayne. There's been so many sort of surprises in your casting.
- [09:10]
Daniel Lee
Yeah, I mean, you know, ultimately fashion is people. You know, fashion's about people. It starts with people, it ends with people. It's really at the beginning, you know, and I think I have a personal connection, I think, for the brand as well. You know, looking back at the archive and thinking about who those but great Burberry women were. So Agnes and Kate and Naomi and Liberty Ross and, you know, being able to work with them in a really authentic way that because they also have history with the brand, you know, the idea and notion of Britishness at Burberry is so big, you know, and it's so important and it's so central to the greater story. It's not just necessarily about one particular show, you know, and I think the casting is something that transcends one collection. It's something that kind of is a through line from the beginning until the end.
- [10:00]
Cho Minardi
And obviously you work with Anita Bitten.
- [10:03]
Daniel Lee
Yeah.
- [10:04]
Cho Minardi
What's that collaborative process like? And how would you just like tell us about the conversations that you're having with her throughout the process?
- [10:12]
Daniel Lee
I mean, Anita is another great British talent. I'm fortunate to have worked with Anita for quite a long time now, so a long time in our industry. So the conversation is very organic and I think we bounce ideas back and forward. I think particularly at Burberry, we start with the brand. You know, we look back at the shows in living memory and like, think about, oh, is there anyone that could feel good to make a comeback? We think a lot about the next generation of British global talent. So I would say Kai, Kit Butler, you know, the models that kind of really do the international circuit, Sasha Quimby, and definitely they feel like they're an important part of the story. And then you have people like Maya, you know, thinking about who could the new. Who could the next generation be?
- [11:00]
Cho Minardi
So it's sort of a combination of. Of looking back and looking forward. Always in the way that you think about.
- [11:06]
Daniel Lee
Exactly.
- [11:07]
Cho Minardi
I think arguably you're the real blockbuster show on the London schedule. And there's been a sense of. Of local intimacy to those four show you staged so far. You know, the first three were shown in local parks. You had the National Theater with the YBA Gary Hume set. I mean, I know that we've had many conversations about music. I think we see we have similar taste in music and it's sort of like been a key to the world building around the show. And I don't know if everyone knows, but Daniel was with Benji B is incredible. And typically working with. With British artists. How much space to thinking about the show and the show day? Because I know yesterday night we were talking a bit about. Because I know you're in show prep now, like, yeah. How much space does that take up in the creative process?
- [11:55]
Daniel Lee
I would say, again, it starts very much at the beginning. I feel I'm also, I would say a designer, that I've always wanted the clothes in the work to speak, you know, and I think there are different kind of camps of designers. Somewhere the show takes precedence over the collection and then there's others where the collection takes precedence over the show. Maybe I'm somewhere in the middle now. It was important to me when I started at Burberry to showcase, I think, this idea of what modern Britishness is and celebrate parts of the city that traditionally wouldn't have been on a typical, let's say, tourist path, you know, and something that you touched upon this sense of intimacy and kind of neighborhood. And although Burberry is a very big brand, it does feel somewhat intimate. Yeah, I think that's the difference. Also, working in London versus working in Europe, the industry here we share more than I think our peers do abroad. And then the show at the National Theatre, you know, I think Burberry, as such a great institution, has a responsibility to showcase and celebrate the amazing creative institutions that exist in this city. And also to showcase and celebrate the. The great artists that exist in this city. So Gary Hume, you know, obviously being the one we collaborated with on the last show, I was first drawn to Gary's work because of his use of color.
- [13:29]
Cho Minardi
Yeah, it's beautiful.
- [13:30]
Daniel Lee
I love color and I love his sense of color. I find it incredibly uplifting and incredibly calming. And in looking a lot at his work, we discovered a piece of work called Bayes, which was the work that we used as a show space set. And that was a site specific work he made for an exhibition in the 90s. And when we spoke to him, he actually had some of it in storage. So we were like. And he hadn't seen it for 20 years. I think he was even saying, you know, I was about to throw it away.
- [13:59]
Cho Minardi
Oh my God, no.
- [14:01]
Daniel Lee
So thankfully we came to him and said, can we use it? It kind of looks like trench coats, you know, when the gabardine's been cut for trench coats in the mill in Castleford. And then you're onto music. I think music really is something central to a show. It really is what sets the emotion and what sets the feeling. It completely changes the way you perceive a collection. And yeah, and I'm very fortunate to work with Benji. And I think when I started at Burberry and we had the initial conversation, you know, it was his idea to say, you know, every season let's pick a great British musical artist and let's celebrate them. We started the first show with Burial. What we love about Burial was the fact that, you know, he has tracks that are things like in McDonald's and on the night bus. And for me, that just. It sounds so. For me, it really epitomizes sonically what London is. You know, kind of as a teenager growing up here, doing univers, being at university here, it sonically made sense. A vision for the brand that felt like modern and kind of new.
- [15:08]
Cho Minardi
Didn't you do Amy Winehouse at one time?
- [15:11]
Daniel Lee
That one had me and Amy, obviously, to celebrate, you know, a great British icon. And then, yeah, we had Amy. The winter show in Victoria park. That was a show that opened with Agnes Dean and the whole thing. We really wanted to have this kind of festival, like you're having fun, kind of outdoors in the countryside kind of feeling.
- [15:38]
Cho Minardi
We'll be back after a quick break. I love the shoot that you did with Agnes. Tell me a bit about, because I think Collectively, we're all still obsessed with her. Like what she liked to work with. What was it like? I mean, was she surprised to be asked or like, because we hadn't seen her for a while, I think in the fashion world.
- [16:07]
Daniel Lee
No, she'd kind of been in hiding. Upstate New York. Agnes has three kids. Actually four now. She just had another four children. Four children. She's a super generous and kind person, you know, so working with her is an absolute pleasure. She also comes from that generation of model where they were really trained by photographers, you know. I think now we're in a much more of a cycle of new face, new photographer. Like, there's a lot more churn then it was very much fewer photographers, fewer models. You know, she worked with photographers like Steven Meisel, who. It was an incredible schooling. So to get her in front of a camera, it's so easy, you know, she was. She was. We shot with Agnes in the Lake District last year. Super freezing cold day, but she wanted to jump in the lake and take a picture.
- [17:00]
Cho Minardi
I remember that picture. It's kind of amazing.
- [17:03]
Daniel Lee
It's an amazing picture. She came to set with her mom, which was really sweet because she's also a northerner. So her mom still lives in Manchester. Yeah. And she, she. She really wanted that photo.
- [17:15]
Cho Minardi
Who shot that picture?
- [17:17]
Daniel Lee
It was Tyrone.
- [17:18]
Cho Minardi
So, yeah, I mean, I'm. Tyrone will not shoot for editorial, but I've been begging him for a long time, so I'm quite jealous. Like, what is it like working?
- [17:26]
Daniel Lee
I know I'm very fortunate with the Tyrone monopoly. We've worked together again for quite some time now, you know, and I think there's a trust and a respect and a love there. I'm really proud of the work we've made together, both at Bottega and at Burberry. I love his pictures. I think we share a similar set of reference. You know, we're quite on the same page. We like a lot, the same casting. For me, his pictures kind of really embody a modernity, but at the same time a real classic kind of elegance. They. They kind of feel like they could have been taken any time.
- [18:04]
Cho Minardi
They really do.
- [18:06]
Daniel Lee
And it's really about the person, you know, I think he's really capturing the spirit of a person. And as I said, you know, for us, that's really the most important part of the work.
- [18:16]
Cho Minardi
Do you enjoy that aspect of the job as well?
- [18:18]
Daniel Lee
The.
- [18:18]
Cho Minardi
The sort of image making and the.
- [18:21]
Daniel Lee
I would somehow say that's probably my favorite part of the job. There's so much Magic in an image, you know, And I think an image is a still. Is obviously a still object. And I think looking at an image, it can be interpreted in so many ways. And there's a magic to that, you know, I think when you see a great image, you are immediately in your mind. You're kind of. You're filled with emotion. You're imagining a story, whereas a show or a live moment or a video, we're giving the whole story away. You know, I also really appreciate kind of the smallness of making an image. You know, it's fewer people, it's a more controlled environment. There's time to reflect, and we are.
- [19:07]
Cho Minardi
Within skipping distance of Central St. Martin's and I know that's where you went, and there were many students in the room. I'm always fascinated. I didn't go to fashion college, but I'm always sort of fascinated with what the life of a student must be like. And fashion and fashion college, like Central Saint Martin's is so prestigious. Do you have any memories or things that stand out in your mind that sort of, like, stay with you?
- [19:30]
Daniel Lee
Well, the people definitely have stayed with me, you know, right through to this moment. I mean, I remember on my ba, I had a super kind and generous tutor named Sarah Gresty, who's now head of Fashion BA that I'm still in contact with. And then for my master, I had the terrifying Louise Wilson, you know, But I remember I was so scared of her, and I remember she would scream and shout at us. But I think that really prepared me, you know, for the industry. Fashion's actually a much nicer place now than it used to be.
- [20:04]
Cho Minardi
Yeah, I agree. I think so, too. I mean, so legendary that you got to.
- [20:09]
Daniel Lee
I know, to.
- [20:10]
Cho Minardi
Yeah.
- [20:11]
Daniel Lee
Be taught by such incredible people.
- [20:13]
Cho Minardi
Exactly, exactly. Well, thank you so much.
- [20:15]
Daniel Lee
Thank you.
- [20:16]
Cho Minardi
Yeah, it was a really lovely conversation and I'm very excited to see your new show.
- [20:21]
Daniel Lee
Thank you.
- [20:21]
Cho Minardi
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. The Run through is produced by Chelsea Daniel, Alex DePalma and Joanna Solotarov. It's engineered by Jake Loomis, Luke Mosley and James Yost. It is mixed by Mike Kutchman. Stephanie Karaoke is our executive producer and Chris Bannon is Conde Nast's head of Global Audio. When you have high standards and fancy, all the fancy things like an iconic Dior saddlebag or a stunning diamond tennis bracelet, you go to ebay. There you'll find new loves that never disappoint. Expertly authenticated, whether it's that vintage pearl necklace, brand new ruby earrings, a Prada crossbody bag to be besties with your other handbag, or an eternally classic watch like a Rolex oyster or a Cartier tank. You know the one eBay's experts ensure you're getting the real deal. That way you can be confident that the designer finds you came for the luxury wardrobe you've always wanted. It's all real. In fact, it's all verified authentic. So bring your high standards and never limit what you can truly find. Yeah, ebay the place for new, pre loved, vintage and rare fashion. EBay things people love.
- [21:55]
Daniel Lee
From PRX.