That thirties touch meant lingerie-light washed silky dresses in period colors including plum, teal, old rose, bottle green, and slate, and shapely coats with a military edge. And if the fluttering crepe scarves (some in a Schiaparelli-esque glove print), diaphanous cardigans, and swimsuit-backed frocks were surprising for a winter collection, the Burberry girl can keep warm with knitted hats and gloves in bright color accents. The retro palette extended to the hose, which was worn with thick-heeled 1940s lizard court shoes trimmed with crisp little bows.

But Bailey wasn’t just thinking about dressing stiff-upper-lipped heroines like Celia Johnson in the weepy 1945 classic Brief Encounter. To a soundtrack of Status Quo, Elvis Costello, and the Communards, the designer leavened the nostalgia with a series of modern twists. As in seasons past, he played in subtle ways with the house’s iconic trench coat—adding epaulets and knotted-leather buttons to skinny corduroy jackets, for instance, or veiling his looks with translucent plastic pieces like an electric-blue Mackintosh and a dramatic scarlet cape. Equally strong were the liquid silver and gold lamé fabrics used for skimpy, make-do-and-mend frocks, and a tiered coat that owed a debt to influential seventies London designers Ossie Clark, Jean Muir, and Bill Gibb—now enjoying a posthumous renaissance.

– Hamish Bowles