Barry Keoghan, From Burberry Check to 'Saltburn' (EXCLUSIVE)
Barry Keoghan, Irish excellence epitomized, is also the face of Burberry's "It's Always Burberry Weather" campaign. Hey, Burberry ain't just British — it's the entire UK. And beyond!
Keoghan joins Cara Delevingne, Little Simz, Zhang Jingyi, and Cole Palmer in a fairly stacked cast that proves that Burberry isn't a single-season brand.
Which, I mean, surely we all knew by now, what with Burberry's signature check having long since appeared on everything from puffer jackets to bucket hats.
But Burberry is riffing on its own old-school advertising here, borrowing an archival slogan to frame signature pieces shaped by creative director (and certified Keoghan pal) Daniel Lee.
"I’ve known Daniel for over five years now," Keoghan tells Highsnobiety. "Some of the moments that I remember from this last Burberry shoot was just how fun it was and how easy it was to shoot on film and how good it was to work with the directors and creative team to bring some humor."
This Keoghan, he's a fun guy. You can tall from his jaunty reversible jacket, printed with supersized Burberry Check in Lee's signature style and worn for a cuppa. However, Keoghan is also a Burberry purist, to some degree.
He adores "the classic Burberry Check on the inside," a classic stealth wealth symbol, though Keoghan's first Burberry buy was a scarf. "I remember I used to wear it with anything and everything," he says. "It had the Check on it as well." Of course!
Burberry's campaign extends to a couple all-time classics, including harrington jackets, quilts, and, yes, the trench. These are all ageless classics that hardly need an upgrade, retaining the water-resistant cotton gabardine exteriors and organic linings — wool, cashmere — that've insulated garments for generations.
They're rendered personal through real-world styling and around-town shots that situate Burberry designs as the British staples they are.
Speaking of around town, what does Keoghan keep on his Burberry pockets while on the go? Why, notebooks, of course. What better way to jot down notes while getting into character? And Keoghan takes this process deadly serious.
"I dress like the character, I stay in acting to familiarize with the period, I do a hobby that the character does," he explains. "Then I go away for two weeks to get into character with no distractions, to live and breathe the character. Then I go to set and be open to collaboration because I love to find the character as I go along in the journey and not have everything figured out — just like life."
This process is not for the faint of heart, something surely no one would accuse Keoghan of being, especially if they've seen him in The Banshees of Inisherin, Dunkirk, or Saltburn. Speaking of which...
"The most challenging [role I've ever taken on] would be my Saltburn character," he recalls. "It wasn’t that it was hard or difficult but 'challenging' and sort of the thing that I’m drawn to. I like to play characters that aren’t necessarily easy or that I can easily slip in to. I want to always have a challenge and physicality and a skill set I can learn."
Preferably while dressed in Burberry Check.
