King Charles and Burberry: A Match Made in Heirloom Heaven

Burberry — Britain’s most traditional high-fashion brand, famous for its trench coats — is always trying to be bigger, more flashy, more youthful than it ought to be. Its tartan bucket hats and puffer jackets might sell well, but they cheapen the brand, as do the gimmicky accessories and plaid-layered everything that try to turn what was just a signature lining into a logo-mania flex. The runway shows don’t really work either, as they either drift from what made the brand famous, and so feels pointless, or are just styling exercises around how to chic up a trench coat, which is similarly unnecessary.It’s unsurprising, then, that the brand’s most traditional collaboration — the Highgrove collection, named for the gardens of King Charles III — is uniformly the brand’s best collection every year. And with the latest edition, there’s no difference.Not all the items are a hit — the sweater mirroring the monarch’s watercolor painting of Birkhall on his Balmoral estate is too bright, maximalist, and traditional to quite work — but the coats are spectacular, taking his watercolors as hidden inner parts for perfect dark marsh-green coats.The Waterloo trench coat is the highlight: a classic-fit double-breasted trench with soft curved shoulders, epaulettes, a throat latch, a storm shield, a gun flap, a belt with a leather buckle, belted cuffs, and buttoned welt pockets. It may be the perfect-looking trench coat, in a dark British green — and then, for bright contrast, inside is a detachable warmer with an appliqué woven in the brand’s house check inspired by the king’s watercolor painting of Birkhall. The detachable warmer is 87 percent wool and 13 percent cashmere.Fitting King Charles’ interest in sustainability, the shower-resistant gabardine fabric is made from organically grown cotton, and the coats are made — along with all of the brand’s major classic coats — at Castleford, in Yorkshire. The sleeve lining is viscose, and the buttons are buffalo horn. The collection has other items — a Mayfair trench jacket, a car coat, and a quilted jacket — but the Waterloo is the standout, as arguably the perfect example of a modern Burberry trench coat, and therefore the perfect Burberry item.The Highgrove Waterloo is $3,850, or $1,000 more than the heritage Waterloo, which shares the same long shape but lacks the warmer and only comes in honey beige, black, and coal blue. It’s worth noting, though, that even though Burberry coats are expensive, they are among the lowest-margin items in designer fashion, with the same excellent material and construction quality that made the brand famous.

King Charles and Burberry: A Match Made in Heirloom Heaven

King Charles and Burberry: A Match Made in Heirloom Heaven

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