Ad of the Day: The star-studded ‘Tale of Thomas Burberry’ kicks off Christmas campaign season

It’s officially that time of year again, Christmas is in the air and Burberry has kicked off the season with an impressive star-studded spot featuring Domhnall Gleeson, and Sienna Miller.

Directed by Academy Award-winner Asif Kapadia, the three-and-a-half minute long epic tells the tale of the company’s founder Thomas Burberry and reimagines key events that have shaped the 160-year-old fashion house’s history.

About Time and Star Wars actor Gleeson heads up the cast, while Miller stars as Burberry’s fictional first love. Real life moments re-enacted in the film include the designers’ invention of the weatherproof fabric gabardine, dressing the military, and outfitting polar explorers and pilots.

Dominic West features as Sir Ernest Shackleton, the pioneering polar explorer who wore Burberry gabardine for three Antarctic expeditions, while Lily James takes on the role of pilot Betty Dawson, a fictionalised character inspired by the real life achievements of Betty Kirby- Green, who broke the world record in 1937 for a return flight from England to Cape Town in an aeroplane dubbed ‘The Burberry.’

“To do justice to this story, we turned to a team of truly great twenty-first century British talent: Asif Kapadia, a director whose work I admire enormously, and a cast of our brightest and our best actors: Domhnall Gleeson, Sienna Miller, Dominic West and Lily James,” aid Burberry chief creative and chief executive Christopher Bailey.

“We feel very proud to be sharing The Tale of Thomas Burberry this Christmas – his spirit and his vision are still at the heart of everything we do at Burberry today.”

Burberry has form for producing high-budget Christmas campaigns, last year the brand paid tribute to Billy Elliot with a film starring Sir Elton John, Julie Walters, Romeo Beckham, Naomi Campbell and more.

To watch the 2016 campaign click on the image below.

Burberry: The Tale of Thomas Burberry by Burberry

By Burberry

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