Heritage
A house, in its own words
Burberry's story begins not with perfume, but with purpose. In 1856, a 21-year-old draper's apprentice named Thomas Burberry opened an outfitter shop in Basingstoke, England. His mission was to protect people from the notoriously damp British weather. He achieved this in 1879 by inventing gabardine, a breathable, weatherproof, and hardwearing fabric that would revolutionize rainwear. The resulting trench coat became an icon, worn by military officers, polar explorers, and eventually, the world. This legacy of practical, stylish protection is the foundation of the entire brand. The house waited over a century to enter the world of fragrance, finally launching its first scent, Burberrys for Men, in 1981. It was a classic aromatic fougère that captured the brand’s established, gentlemanly character. The 1990s saw a significant expansion with fragrances like Burberry Women, which cemented the house's perfumery ambitions. A pivotal moment came in 2013 when then-creative director Christopher Bailey brought the brand's beauty license in-house, a rare and costly move designed to fully integrate fragrance with the fashion vision. Though the license was later passed to beauty giant Coty in 2017, this period solidified fragrance as a central pillar of Burberry's storytelling.
Burberry's approach to perfume is rooted in a concept they call 'fragments of the brand'. Each scent is designed to capture a piece of the house's identity: the feeling of a London garden after the rain, the attitude of a modern city girl, or the enduring comfort of their signature trench coat. There's a constant, creative tension between heritage and modernity. They honor their past and the codes of the house, like the check and the gabardine fabric, while simultaneously reflecting the raw, contemporary energy of British youth culture, music, and art. This duality means their fragrances are never just pretty smells; they have a point of view. Under the direction of perfumers like Francis Kurkdjian and Amandine Clerc-Marie, the briefs are specific and evocative. The goal is to create a scent that feels both aspirational and deeply personal, like discovering a perfectly worn-in leather jacket or, of course, your favorite trench coat. It's about bottling Britishness in all its complex, contradictory glory.