Burberry’s newest collection has people all-ears. At the brand’s spring 2022 womenswear presentation, models such as Rianne Van Rompaey walked the runway with an extra-large pair of crescent-shaped drooping ears. Was the look giving Dobby the House Elf realness?
Designer Riccardo Tisci titled his collection “Animal Instinct,” telling Vogue.com: “We are born from animals. We have an animal instinct that’s highly strung when we are feeling happiness or depression or sadness.” Tisci was perhaps speaking from personal emotion: He dedicated the collection to his late mother who passed in August and explained that he wanted to convey the “same emotional expression that animals convey through their ears.” Makeup artist Isamaya Ffrench, Burberry’s new global beauty director, credited prosthetics artist Francesco Fabiani with creating the very life-like (as much as they could be) ears.
It’s more likely that they’re Bambi-inspired. Most recently, Tisci posed for the cover of DSection magazine with an early prototype of today’s ears while holding a baby deer. On Instagram, Naomi Campbell commented “Purity” followed by three heart emojis on the look. Tisci has also long experimented with Bambi imagery in his work. Some of his most recognizable pieces at Givenchy included a Bambi neoprene sweatshirt from his fall 2013 collection, later reproduced on bags. His debut show for Burberry included more deer prints and a button-down that read, “Why Did They Kill Bambi?” (perhaps a reference to the 1979 Sex Pistols song).
