The V&A's new Burberry exhibition traces the history of the trench coat

Few pieces of clothing have the cultural mileage of the Burberry trench coat. In the world of luxury fashion, Burberry’s trench coat is both the most recognisable and the most replicated across mainstream brands. It’s a piece of clothing that still feels as sophisticated, wearable and practical as it was first intended.

Designed as a waterproof wrap coat, then as a military uniform, the trench transformed into a functional civilian coat in the post-war period, before becoming a certified style icon. It’s come a long way since its days of polar exploration and wartime service.

Now, the V&A is celebrating that journey with The Burberry Trench: Crafting an Icon, a free display tracing more than a century of the coat’s evolution. Ahead of its opening on Monday 21 September, I visited the exhibition, which neatly coincides with Burberry’s much-anticipated London Fashion Week closing show. Small but beautifully presented in the museum’s mahogany-panelled Prince Consort Gallery, it brings together never-seen-before archival pieces with early design sketches and contemporary takes from creative directors Daniel Lee, Christopher Bailey and Riccardo Tisci.

Daisy Lester/The Standard

Contrary to popular commentary, the story starts not in the trenches, but with Thomas Burberry, who founded his eponymous company in 1856. In 1879, he invented gabardine – one of the most culturally and practically important fabrics in fashion history.

The material is a tightly woven cotton that’s lighter and more breathable than the heavy, waxed and rubberised materials traditionally used for waterproof clothing. Ernest Shackleton became one of its poster boys during early 20th-century Arctic expeditions, while Dr. Fridtjof Nansen famously wore lightweight, weatherproof gabardine clothing on his pioneering expeditions. Patented in 1888, it became the technological foundation of Burberry’s outerwear – and eventually the trench itself.

The coat’s direct predecessor was the Tielocken, patented by Burberry in 1912. Fastened with a single strap and buckle rather than conventional buttons, it was designed for practicality and movement. Then came the First World War, when Burberry adapted its outerwear for military use. The trench coat was equipped with necessary wartime details (epaulettes, D-rings, a storm shield and a gun flap), all of which have endured to this day, albeit as decorative elements.

Following the war, Burberry’s trench effortlessly slipped into civilian wardrobes. Its unrivalled weather protection, structure and movement made it particularly well suited to city and countryside life. Photographs in the exhibition reveal its growing sartorial status during the 20th century, as a grander flagship store opened in London’s Haymarket and European expansion began from Paris. In the mid-19th century, the trench became a staple of film noir – Humphrey Bogart wore one in Casablanca – and detective imagery, before Audrey Hepburn gave it a romantic edge in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Daisy Lester/The Standard

Burberry’s transformation into a luxury ready-to-wear powerhouse began with Christopher Bailey in 2001. The designer spearheaded a more high-fashion, avant-garde runway approach – see his experimental rhinestone and gold snakeskin trenches on display at the V&A. Bailey paved the way for Riccardo Tisci’s youthful, streetwear-inflected collections and Daniel Lee’s heritage revival tenure, from his colourful check Mary Quant-inspired trench to a ruffled version.

That complex, fascinating history has no doubt helped make the trench so enduring. The exhibition’s section on the coat’s recognisable signatures – double-breasted front, belted waist, storm flap and distinctive collar – evokes its continued contemporary influence. Just take one look at this season’s high street outerwear collections, from funnel necks to shoulder padding, and Burberry’s impact is clear.

The V&A’s new display is divided into invention, craft and creativity, moving from the origins of gabardine and the coat’s functional construction to its transformation into a fashion icon.

Among the archival highlights are a 1939 trench worn by a British Army lieutenant colonel, a bespoke 1979 Burberry car coat belonging to the Royal family’s Savile Row designer Hardy Amies, and a rare 1929 red ski suit, complete with a red wool hat and mittens. I left the show determined to find a version of the exhibition's bottle-green trench coat on Vinted or eBay.