Burberry has partnered with Sir Quentin Blake on a capsule collection that brings the British illustrator’s drawings into womenswear, menswear, childrenswear, and accessories. The project introduces his hand-drawn motifs across Burberry pieces, connecting the house with one of Britain’s most recognizable names in illustration and children’s books.
CAPSULE COLLECTIONS
Daniel Lee, Burberry Chief Creative Officer, frames the collaboration through Blake’s visual language and its place in British culture. “Sir Quentin Blake’s illustrations capture a sense of childhood magic. They have a very British style, and we wanted to bring his amazing creations into the world of Burberry,” Lee said.
Blake has worked in British art and publishing for almost seventy years. His illustrations carry a clear sense of character, movement, and narrative, shaped through a line that readers across generations recognize immediately. Queen Elizabeth II knighted him in 2013, after decades of work across books, drawing, and public art. His career also includes his long collaboration with writers, most famously Roald Dahl.
For the Burberry capsule, Blake’s artwork appears through feather prints and a newer group of previously unreleased drawings. The feather motifs take inspiration from an original 1971 pen-and-ink illustration created for an English-language version of The Birds by Aristophanes. The more recent drawings show playful figures interacting with nature, giving the collection a second visual thread centered on character and gesture.
Burberry cuts the pieces from shower-resistant tropical gabardine, the lightest of its key fabrics. The fit-and-flare Pembury trench features printed silk lining, while the neat, narrow Foxfield trench carries a tactile embroidered design. Inside each trench, Burberry places its Knight label with Blake’s signature, turning the inner detail into a direct mark of the collaboration.
The collection continues through printed silk pieces. Burberry uses silk as panels on a knitted T-shirt and across fluid separates, ruffled dresses, and scarves. The material gives Blake’s drawings a softer surface, while the silhouettes keep the artwork visible across daywear and more dressed pieces. Cotton jersey T-shirts, tops, and sweaters carry the capsule imagery in a more direct way, placing the illustrations on accessible wardrobe staples.
Burberry embroiders the capsule artwork on cotton twill baseball caps and adds the drawings to Scottish-woven cashmere scarves. The scarves receive a brushed finish for an ultra-soft texture.
The project also arrives ahead of a major moment for illustration in the UK. The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration opens on June 5, 2026 as the country’s first and only permanent space dedicated to illustration. Burberry has supported the new center by funding staff and volunteer training, illustrator-led workshops, inclusive community programming, and monthly LGBTQI+ family sessions launching in July.
