Burberry CD Daniel Lee takes Brit heritage brand to Jamaica

Jamaica’s tropical allure and the captivating beauty of SAINT International models come into sharp focus for Burberry’s just-launched Spring/Summer 2024 global advertising campaign.

The brand’s collection drop, with its accompanying visuals shot on Jamaica’s northeast coastline, featured SAINT model Kai Newman, the agency’s 2023 Female Fashion Face; Dru Campbell, fresh from her stunning debut at the European Fall/Winter 2024 collections; and the agency’s rising talents Selah McHail and Abigail Lloyd.

Integrally involved in the Jamaica-set ad campaign was SAINT chief executive officer Deiwght Peters.

He shared with Loop News that he was contacted last October and subsequently recruited by the team from the iconic English label to assist in their visioning process.

The celebrated modelmaker was tasked with scouting local faces, including pitching those from his agency’s roster.

Peters conducted a series of open castings that saw hundreds of hopefuls packing into the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel’s Alexander Bustamante Suite’s banquet space back in November in response to his social media broadcast ‘seeking models, musicians, influencers, skaters, and surfers’.

‘To say I was surprised when Burberry reached out, would be an understatement,’ Peters recalled.

‘I was truly honoured of how knowledgeable they were of my decades of work, and for entrusting their confidence in me to join the buildout. It was a fantastic opportunity to collaborate in finding the specific aesthetic they were keen to capture.’

The SAINT CEO noted that having Jamaica selected for the campaign of a luxury fashion house ‘and Jamaicans being part of the narrative is a positive depiction on film’ reinforcing Jamaica’s long-held association with glamour.

Peters’ contribution was a crucial complement to an overseas shortlist of British, African, Asian, and other Caribbean faces that was winnowed down by the project’s casting directors Finlay Macaulay and Anita Bitton.

Other esteemed models included Nigerian Mayowa Nicholas, Jamaican-blooded model Malachi Slue, veteran English model Karen Elson, and fashion newcomer India Rawsthorn.

In addition to his four SAINT models, Peters disclosed that actor and musician Sheldon Shepherd also made the final cut as the fifth Jamaican featured in the campaign, now seen worldwide.

Team Burberry jetted into the island back in December with the brand’s chief creative officer Daniel Lee in tow as team lead in both oversight and styling capacities.

They decamped at GoldenEye Resort in St Mary, which served as the scenic backdrop of the campaign.

For English photographer Tyrone Lebon, who previously shot the Fall/Winter 2023 campaign in Scotland last year, the warmer climes of the Caribbean paradise set the tone for the latest Burberry collection taking the brand’s heritage elements in a fresh direction.

For SAINT’s Kai Newman, working on the Burberry campaign on home turf felt like kismet. “I feel elated and blessed to have been part of it,” she shared.

“It was amazing shooting in Jamaica with my SAINT family as well my international model friends like Mayowa Nicholas. There was so much fun and laughter during the shoot and the after party, food and vibes were immaculate, everyone connected, so it was so special.”

Meanwhile Bob Marley: One Love actor Sheldon Shepherd expressed deep pride with his Burberry get.

‘I’ve always enjoyed creativity in fashion. To be given the opportunity to be featured in this campaign is more for my mother than for me. She always wants me to do more with fashion and modelling and loves this kind of thing more than I do. In fact, she would love to be a model.’

‘Burberry is a trendsetter and an original in the fashion game. For me to be aligned with such a well known and loved brand in this capacity is new for me and a welcome addition to my resume,’ added Shepherd, no stranger to global advertising campaigns.

You may have seen Shepherd staring alongside his No Maddz bandmates and track icon Usain Bolt in a 2011 PUMA campaign.

Recalling a now treasured memory from the GoldenEye shoot, the multi-hyphenate artist said: ‘It would be watching Sister Nancy (who was also cast for the Burberry campaign) strike poses for the camera. She is a legendary raggamuffin goddess.’

Elsewhere, SAINT’s fast-rising model Selah McHail reminisced that his Burberry shoot experience was an exceptional one.

‘GoldenEye is such a beautiful property, there’s such a natural mystic to it, I could totally understand why Bob Marley would’ve spent so much time there. Everyone was in sort of a cheerful flow state, I could tell great art was being made but at the same time we were all having so much fun,’ he said.

For the 20-year-old model, he disclosed that ‘my most memorable moment was actually off set when I was having lunch with Deiwght. I was expressing my immense joy being part of the production, to which he replied, ‘Son, this is only the beginning’.