Digital Wardrobe: Into the Trenches, Worldwide

A young father stands proudly with his delicately wrapped child; another man stands on an eerily quiet Shanghai corner surrounded by lanterns; while a woman looks surprised as she is snapped walking down the street and an older gentleman listens to his ipod in the market—their only connection is the classic Burberry trench over their shoulders. The fruits of Burberry’s newest collaboration with Magnum photography are just as timeless as the wardrobe. For over 150 years ago, Burberry has been the ultimate purveyor of the quintessential trench coat. And for over 60 years, Magnum has been a collborative for photographers looking at the world with a classic lens.

“Everybody has a different story related to their coat or the first time they came into contact with one,” says Chief Creative Officer Christopher Bailey, but he might as well have been talking about a Magnum photograph. They’ve at long last come together on the brand’s interactive website, artofthetrench.com. In the specially commissioned shots by Bruce Gilden, Gueorgui Pinkhassov, Christopher Andersson, Olivia Arthur, Elliot Erwin and Jim Goldberg, subjects as various as models and taxi drivers model show off their coats in snapshots voted on by users. The images show the trench not so much as a blank canvas, but as a gateway to a person’s story. PHOTO BY ELLIOT ERWIN