The Chequered History of Burberry’s Most Famous Print

The world is mourning the end of Succession, and with it the acerbic one-liners of Waystar Royco’s new CEO, Tom Wambsgans. For fashion fans, the finest put-down of the show came from its most successful social climber in the opening episode of the final series, when Wambsgans described Greg’s date Bridget’s Nova pane Burberry tote as a “ludicrously capacious bag”. In a sea of stealth wealth wardrobes – logo-free suede Métier weekenders, Brunello Cucinelli suits and Kendall Roy’s countless cashmere Loro Piana caps – the print and proportions of Bridget’s bag represented, to Tom, crass nouveau-riche taste, in stark contrast to, say, a plain Tom Ford T-shirt, or his own sleek Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph.

The Burberry check – a tartan design first used as a fabric lining in the brand’s raincoats in the 1920s – has long served as a visual barometer of changing tastes. The print first came to prominence in the ’60s, after an experimental Parisian sales clerk turned their store’s trench coats inside out as a visual merchandising technique to welcome Sir Patrick Reilly, who was Britain’s ambassador to France at the time. In the late ’90s it straddled worlds, key to the uniforms of both the Balmoral and the Cool Britannia sets, pearl-wearing Sloane rangers and the “chavs” derided by The Daily Telegraph. The red strikethrough of the beige, white and grey Burberry check was worn by the Queen and tabloid favourite Danniella Westbrook alike.

In 2002, when Westbrook was papped with her daughter in matching Burberry check kilts, while wheeling a pram in the same Nova pane print, it marked a shift towards it becoming so associated with the so-called “chav” aesthetic (this was in the era of the WAG, whose taste for designer labels saw flashy logos come to be rejected in some corners as reflective of money, but not taste), that many more conservative customers temporarily turned their backs on the heritage design. Burberry, overseen by creative director Christopher Bailey at the time, even began to limit production of its most distinctive print.

“It’s monstrous. It’s gargantuan,” Wambsgans exclaimed, mid anti-tote tirade. But his snooty commentary only boosted interest in Burberry, which saw a 310 per cent spike in searches for its handbags after the Succession episode aired. Canny staff even placed the £2,500 bag in the windows of its Central London flagship. Seemingly, Mariah Carey was inspired too. The pop star, who was spied in a matching Burberry miniskirt and scarf back in 2003, was seen out and about in Hollywood this week in a skin-tight checked Burberry bodysuit and a classic trench.