Burberry designer's digital world

Burberry Prorsum womenswear spring/summer 2014 collections.

Integral to all Burberry Web, and real-life, activity is music in particular new British talent. The designer himself is a huge music fan and helps select bands that will feature in the various ad campaigns, Internet specials and live shows. A particular current favorite is Jake Bugg, a young singer-songwriter whose influences include Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles and Bob Dylan.

For all his love of cutting-edge music and technology, Bailey is also renowned for a love of the simple life. He is a regular visitor back to his native Yorkshire, in the north of England, where he stays in touch with family, and friends he has known for more than three decades.

Those close ties and the unaffected nature that characterizes Yorkshire people have undoubtedly helped keep him grounded during a meteoric career rise. One of Bailey's first jobs was working for Donna Karan in New York City, followed by time with Gucci in Florence during the Gucci glory years, when American designer Tom Ford was at the helm.

The past decade at Burberry has been even more hectic, with Bailey spearheading the massive revival of the Burberry brand, success reflected in the opening of stores worldwide and the surge in profits.

Part of the reason for the success has been Bailey's ability to tap into the vast well of creativity that exists in melting-pot London. As Britain showed during the Olympic Games year in 2012, it is still a hugely influential force in the world of fashion, music, arts and sports.

"I feel incredibly blessed to be working for a brand that I admire and love. It has become my baby. I am able to touch all the different worlds that I love," Bailey says. "I find it always difficult to say what is work and what is not work. If I am listening to music, and I am in the middle of the countryside, I am not sure if that is classed as work."