CHECKS, Please
How the fashion world’s most unmistakable pattern came to be.
It’s been worn by everyone from Beyoncé and Brad Pitt to Kendall Jenner and Queen Elizabeth II, but before the Burberry Check became a house code that seamlessly crossed the style spectrum, it actually started out as something more concealed. In the 1920s, the instantly recognizable tartan design was used to line the British brand’s raincoats.
It took decades later—until 1967 when a Parisian buyer with Burberry turned said outerwear lining into accessories in a clever visual merchandising effort—before customers caught on and began specifically requesting the check.
Since then, the check has had an evolution of its own, showing up prominently on cashmere scarves in the 1970s, in ready-to-wear collections and corresponding campaigns throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and in its current iteration under creative director Daniel Lee which has seen the pattern spliced and diced for a modern take.
No matter how you wear it—on a cool crossbody, a chic shirtdress or a 2000s era string bikini—the Burberry Check is imbued with a style-forward history wherever you take it.
