The ultimate fashion brand flex for 2025? A suit of armour on social
Two of our favourite fashion brands have brought medieval knights to life for SS25. Why?
Burberry’s social media has been popping off. It feels as though the fight-back has begun, following the brand’s latest round of poor results announced in September.
Last week saw the launch of Burberry’s excellent London in Love campaign, created by David Lane, which has been widely applauded by consumers and brand strategists alike. One protagonist has lived on beyond the campaign, though, with repeated appearances since – the mini scooter-riding Burberry Knight.
To bring the Knight to life as a living manifestation of Burberry’s recently resurfaced historic logo is inspired. Burberry has quite literally brought one of its key brand codes into the real world. From a marketing perspective it’s playful, unexpected and true to the brand.
It’s also savvy. At a time when social algorithms are moving away from rewarding reach, to rewarding interactions and shares, unexpected, refreshing and brilliantly weird content like this is made with sharing in mind.
But, Burberry isn’t the only brand to surface a paragon of chivalry in its comms, this season. Spanish luxury powerhouse Loewe beat Burberry to the punch – showcasing a handful of armour-clad knights as part of its quirky SS25 pre-collection campaign, shot by Juergen Teller, which first appeared in October last year.
Loewe’s knights aren’t the manifestation of a brand code, but rather of a brand value: radical creativity.
Said knights featured alongside a diverse and unexpected cast, from body builders and ballet dancers to A-list actors – including Ayo Edebiri. With such a great line-up, the campaign celebrated both human ingenuity and our collective love of niche passions, from medieval sparring to scuba diving.
Through the lens of people’s passions the campaign literally says: “we’re passionate about creativity”, landing Loewe’s most fundamental brand message front and centre.
Whether medieval warriors will reappear for Loewe remains to be seen – especially if the rumours are true and creative director Jonathan Anderson is soon to depart the brand. Such fun moves have Anderson’s handwriting all over them. For Burberry, though, we hope to see more inventive appearances of the Knight to come.
In a world where fashion’s biggest battle is for attention, a suit of armour might just be the ultimate weapon this summer.
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Enter the Burberry Knight Cinematic Universe. I feel like we are overdue a brand mascot renaissance. Who else has untapped characters that could be deployed?!