Occasionally, when fantasising about other career paths, I like to think that I could be a CEO. In particular, I would like to take on the management and rehabilitation of a beleaguered British brand. I am not alone in this ambition; just as every football fan fancies themselves a manager, everyone who works in fashion thinks they can run a house. Everyone’s got a theory for how to make M&S more profitable. And everyone, not just fashion people, has thoughts on Burberry. 

For the past few years, Britain’s leading luxury brand has been in the doldrums; it fell out of the FTSE 100 in 2024 and has long suffered from profit warnings and falling sales. In the past year, however, things have been resurging. A renewed focus on core product, a restructuring and spanky marketing campaigns, led by CEO Joshua Schulman and creative director Daniel Lee, have seen its wheels spinning once again. 

There’s no shame in embracing what you’re good at. And Burberry is very good at doing a rainproof trench. It’s also good at doing itsy-bitsy plaid bikinis, bucket hats and other totems of British culture, items that are finding favour with consumers once again. In the ’90s, Burberry was synonymous with a youthful Anglomania that touched on fashion, football and music, and enveloped it in a uniquely British wit. It’s still emblematic of the City (the FT’s economics guru Martin Wolf wears a Burberry trench coat), but it’s equally as comfortable in a country house or stadium.

Much of the brand’s new success has drawn on this rich heritage, as the FT’s fashion editor Elizabeth Paton finds out. In an interview with Schulman and Lee, she talks to both about the bounceback, while Clare Richardson and Dan Martensen shoot a portfolio of rising talents, led by tennis player Jack Draper, which offers a fresh take on the culture of the brand today.

While we’re on the subject of British icons, it was a delight to do this week’s Aesthete interview with The Streets’ Mike Skinner. The singer-songwriter is gearing up to tour A Grand Don’t Come For Free, his seminal album about lost youth, self-doubt and heartbreak, which he will perform next year for the first time in full. Over the course of three hours in Highgate, he discussed his favourite things – namely drum machines, his love of Cadbury, and a persistent yet not entirely bonkers belief in UFOs.

Lastly, to another icon, Jane Austen, who would have marked her 250th birthday this month. Her influence over that time has been immeasurable, and her books, letters and artefacts still sustain a lively market that we navigate in our Collecting column. The variety of merch is quite the bounty. Janeites have a breadth of choice. You can pick up a copy of Emma, inscribed with Austen’s handwriting, for around £375,000. Or a replica bust of Mr Darcy, as seen in Joe Wright’s Pride & Prejudice, from the Chatsworth shop for just 99 of your finest quids.