After 17 years working for Burberry, Christopher Bailey has today announced that he will be stepping down from the role as president and chief creative officer. Following stints designing for Donna Karan and Tom Ford at Gucci, Bailey originally joined Burberry in 2001 as design director and then became creative director in 2004. 

“It has been the great privilege of my working life to be at Burberry, working alongside and learning from such an extraordinary group of people over the last 17 years,” Bailey said in his farewell statement. “Burberry encapsulates so much of what is great about Britain.” Bailey will step down from his position in March next year but will officially leave at the end of 2018. 

Earlier this year, the designer collaborated with Gosha Rubchinskiy on a collection that saw the return of the Burberry check – he then officially brought it back to the British house when he presented the SS18 collection. Nothing is known yet about Bailey’s replacement but the brand is reportedly looking. Will it be a familiar face, or somebody new? Watch this space to find out.