Johnny-Come-Lately Trendwatch

Seen on the necks of classy Harvard students this season: an unmistakable pattern, an arguably unattractive yet undeniable status symbol. Not a hickey from a winter romance, but a Burberry scarf.

The ubiquitous red, camel, black and white plaid—better known as the Burberry Check—has become synonymous with the British clothing company of the same name, as well as with the chic Harvard trendsetter. Even Baker Professor of Economics Martin S. Feldstein ’61 has been spotted modeling a Burberry scarf, which carries a far-from-economical price tag of about $100.

Burberry was founded in 1856 as a clothing company for the outdoorsmen of Hampshire, England. Since then, the business has gone on to play a vital role in fashion history, or so Burberry’s plaid-replete website boasts. The company designed service uniforms for British officers in 1901, outfitting the first two expeditions to the South Pole in 1911 and 1914, lining trenchcoats in 1924 and clothing British aviators in the 1930s. Beginning in the 1960s, the Burberry Check has appeared on scarves, umbrellas and luggage. Recently, the company—under new management since 1997—launched a modish marketing campaign aimed at the fashionable and impressionable youth of the world, introducing the fragrance Burberry Touch a couple of years ago. If dressing oneself in the old check pattern is not enough to satisfy diehard fans, Burberry Barbie—who sports a plaid kilt, scarf and bag and is “classic in every sense of the word”—is available for $88 from www.dollsanddarlings.com. A pattern once appropriate only on Grandfather’s coat has quickly become a popular bikini design over the past several years. “Getting our bikini on Kate Moss cut the average age of our customers 30 years in one fell swoop,” Rose Marie Bravo, the woman behind the magical Burberry transformation, recently told Time Magazine.

A trip to Nieman Marcus reveals Burberry umbrellas sell for $140, Burberry diaper bags for $375 and Burberry jeans for $170. But is the distinctive style worth the price? “It is a little expensive but the quality is worth it and they have a great day-after-Christmas sale,” Alexandra B. Moss ’04 says. “I like the style, the feel of the fabric and the fact that it goes with everything.”

Lee H. Teslik ’04 owns a pair of Burberry pants, but he wears them in an attempt to be ironic rather than stylish. “Truth be told, I think the brand is getting pretty played out,” he says. According to Teslik, his pants “are so over-the-top that it’s hard to take them too seriously. Of course, this goes right over the heads of much of the scarf-wearing population, who invariably tell me that my pants are ‘so cool,’ but what can you do?”