After a successive run of uber-fashionable exhibitions in recent years, the V&A South Kensington has set its sights on a quintessentially British icon for its upcoming autumn/winter showcase – Burberry. Rather than a paid, ticketed event, The Burberry Trench: Crafting an Icon will be a free display celebrating a fashion staple that has adapted and endured through the decades. The exhibit will feature rare material from the fashion house’s archive as it marks its 170th anniversary and run from 21 September 2026 until 3 January 2027. Women’s purple baroque-print fringed trench coat V&AThe exhibit is set to steal the show in the museum’s rarely-seen Prince Consort Gallery and will begin with ‘Invention’, a display exploring Thomas Burberry’s invention of cotton gabardine in 1879 and how its use in the Burberry trench established the coat as a sought-after piece of protective outerwear, combining function and style. It’ll highlight the coat’s evolution into a classic design that’s still worn by fashionistas of all ages today.