If the luxe bohemian collection Christopher Bailey showed for Burberry Prorsum in London had a secret muse, it would be Penelope Tree, the free-spirited aristocratic Anglo-American model discovered by editor Diana Vreeland in New York at Truman Capote’s Black and White ball, who would define the boho look of the sixties.
The artfully crafted pieces at Burberry today combined the best elements of hippie, festival, and ethnic dress, and came embellished with fringe, mirrorwork, patchwork, and florals—both printed and appliqued. It’s easy to imagine them on the fashion all-stars who sat front-row, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell. But it was Penelope, photographer David Bailey once said, who “kind of started all that flower power. ” (Bailey would know: Tree ran away with him to London when she was just seventeen.) Tree was as celebrated for her unconventional beauty as she was her eccentrically cool personal style, which Vogue described as “a mishmash of patterns, lots of fabrics, different things—dressing like a gypsy—that’s the way Penelope Tree wants to be.” And, from the looks of things on Burberry’s runway, so do lots of other stylish women.
