Burberry Celebrates 170 Years With Kate Moss, Little Simz, and 21 Icons

Burberry turned 170 this March with a campaign that made a clear statement: the trench coat isn't a relic, it's a living thing. The Trench: Portraits of an Icon pairs 23 figures from across fashion, music, sport, and art with photographer Tim Walker, who rendered every subject in stark black-and-white. The result is a portrait series that feels less like advertising and more like a cultural document.

The cast spans generations and disciplines in a way few brand campaigns manage without feeling forced. Kate Moss appears alongside rapper Little Simz, actor Jonathan Bailey, singer Teyana Taylor, model Paloma Elsesser, musician Kid Cudi, and actors Mikey Madison and Drew Starkey. Each was invited, as Clash's Sabrina Soormally and Ana Lamond noted in their coverage, "to wear the trench their own way, emphasising its versatility worn in different ways by 23 people across fashion, music, sport and art." Walker's monochrome palette strips away distraction, putting the cut of each coat and the personality of each subject front and center.

The timing is deliberate. Burberry's Heritage Collection trench coats, the Kensington, Chelsea, and Waterloo silhouettes that have anchored the house for decades, are joined this season by the Marylebone, a new addition defined by a sharper, modern cropped cut. Every piece in the collection remains made in England, a commitment Dazed Digital described as central to the house's identity. The trench sits alongside Burberry's other signature motifs: the Nova Check pattern and the Equestrian Knight emblem, embroidered onto polo shirts and spotted on umbrellas cutting through rain-soaked streets.

As Dazed Digital put it, the campaign is "a reminder that the trench, even after 170 years, remains as culturally relevant as ever." That relevance is partly structural. The trench's belted waist, storm flap, and D-ring tabs were engineered for British weather in the 1850s; they also happen to photograph beautifully in 2026. Walker understands this. His black-and-white portraits have the weight of editorial portraiture rather than seasonal lookbook imagery, which is exactly why Burberry's anniversary campaign lands differently from the brand's more commercial work.

At 170, Burberry isn't asking what the trench can do for a new audience. It's showing you.