London-based luxury brand Burberry has announced a new chief creative officer. Daniel Lee will take up the post at the start of October, replacing Riccardo Tisci. Report by Leatherbiz.

Daniel Lee

Burberry said Riccardo Tisci had decided to leave the brand after five years.

Until November last year, Daniel Lee was creative director of Italian leathergoods brand Bottega Veneta. He held that role for just over three years but, in that time, won acclaim for injecting a fresh spirit into Bottega’s collections.

When he left the Italian brand, François-Henri Pinault, the chief executive of its parent group, Kering, said Mr Lee had brought passion and energy to Bottega Veneta and “put it back at the centre of the fashion scene”.

Before Bottega Veneta, he was director of ready-to-wear design at Celine, which he joined in 2012, and also worked at Maison Margiela, Balenciaga and Donna Karan.

Daniel Lee was born in Yorkshire, where Burberry has its roots, and trained at Central Saint Martin’s in London. This new move from Italy back to London mirrors the one Burberry chief executive, Jonathan Akeroyd, earlier this year when he left Milan-based brand Versace to return to the UK.

Commenting on Daniel Lee’s appointment, Mr Akeroyd said: “Daniel is an exceptional talent with a unique understanding of today’s luxury consumer and a strong record of commercial success. His appointment reinforces the ambitions we have for Burberry.”

If Riccardo Tisci’s next move is a return to Italy, it will be in parallel with what former Burberry chief executive, Marco Gobbetti, did at the end of 2021, when he left the London-based brand to become chief executive of Versace. Mr Tisci grew up near Milan and, before joining Burberry in 2018, worked at Givenchy, with Marco Gobbetti, for 12 years.

These announcements came only days after Riccardo Tisci presented a spring-summer 2023 collection for Burberry at London Fashion Week. There had been rumours of the changes for a number of weeks.