The V&A Gives the Burberry Trench a Gallery of Its Own

The V&A is giving a single coat a gallery. 'The Burberry Trench: Crafting an Icon' opens in the Prince Consort Gallery at V&A South Kensington on Monday 21 September, runs to 3 January, and is free to walk into — staged as part of the house's 170th anniversary.

It comes in three sections. 'Invention' goes back to Thomas Burberry's cotton gabardine of 1879 and the coat's beginnings as practical outerwear and military attire. 'Craft' takes it apart — hand-finished collars, the check lining, storm flaps, detachable throat latches. 'Creativity' hangs 19 runway looks from the past 25 years.

The object list is where it gets good: a womenswear catalogue featuring trench coats from around 1937–44; Hardy Amies's personalised Burberry car coat from 1979; a men's pink metallic silk trench from Spring/Summer 2013; a men's mirror-embroidered trench from Autumn/Winter 2015; a men's knitted duck hat from Winter 2023; and a women's purple baroque-print fringed trench from Winter 2025.

Burberry brand curator Carly Eck: 'As we mark 170 years of the house, we are thrilled to partner with the V&A to celebrate the enduring legacy of the Burberry trench coat – a global design icon.'

The V&A's own description is the plainest one: a concise history of the Burberry trench from practical outerwear and military attire to a world-renowned icon of fashion. It opens four days after London Fashion Week starts, it costs nothing to see, and it is on Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL, until 3 January.