Burberry’s Christmas ad and the modern language of luxury

I quite like Burberry’s latest Christmas advert, but its explicit shows of wealth are out of keeping with its recent aesthetic curation.

I recently watched a YouTube video from an event filmed during the mid-nineties that made me cringe pretty deeply.

For reasons I can’t remember, I’d stumbled across an onstage talk by comic book author Grant Morrison, who was giving a slightly-too-high-energy monologue to a crowd, presumably populated mostly by nerdy basement dwellers.

The wince-worthy moment came during the opening monologue when Morrison made a crass reference to the designer brand of the suit he’d obviously put a lot of effort into choosing.

As I recall, such garish nods to personal wealth were pretty commonplace in the 90s. It was a time when Versace, Giorgio Armani and Calvin Klein were peaking in cultural cache. Of course, these brands, alongside the likes of Prada, Chanel, et al, are still a big part of the luxury retail space in 2025. But how their goods are marketed, and how we embrace them, has changed significantly.

Loewe’s 2024 ads featuring Aubrey Plaza are a case in point. Sure, the aesthetic is hardly down at the heel, but the focus is more on the humour and reflected glory of the star’s charisma rather than curating a mythos around the high price tags and ‘unreachable’ levels of social status.

Then there’s Prada’s artfully ponderous series of short films starring Scarlett Johansson, which, although elegant, appeal more to the audience’s fondness for ‘high culture’ as a marker of taste and erudition.

The shift was truly cemented by around 2008, of course, when a global recession made opulent displays of wealth something of a faux pas socially. But, the beginnings of it, I think, trace back to the naff consumerism parodied in shows like The Office, as well as the growing trend from business magnates like Steve Jobs to keep it simple sartorially. 

Nowadays, utility and refinement have replaced exclusivity as the low-key flex of choice. ‘High status individuals’ are just as likely to wear brands like Patagonia and North Face as they are Prada because the quality of the products reflects a sense of purpose, and speaks to a life outside of comfortable suburbia.

Burberry’s recent marketing content seemed to get this shift perhaps more than any other luxury brand. Its tastefully curated content celebrate everyday life across the class spectrum, in chip shops, and fishing on a lake, for example. Its recent Christmas advert ‘Twas The Knight Before…’, is a little less subtle in its execution, however.

Directed by John Madden, the campaign features Jennifer Saunders as a festive hostess welcoming guests like Naomi Campbell, Ncuti Gatwa, and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley to a lavish London townhouse.

Scenes of family camaraderie, carol singing, and winter coats ensue, but for me, it fails at depicting ‘approachable luxury’.

The spot’s inclusion of high fashion and British wit is welcome enough, but the unsubtle ‘oh look here’s yet another gift idea from Burberry’ moments, the slightly in-your-face grandeur of the house, and the plethora of unfeasibly pretty people are just a bit… much.

I stopped short of cringing, however. And hey, it certainly nails the cosy feel of Christmas, but as a cultural statement, it may have missed the mark on this one. 

Image credit: Burberry