Fields of Roses

The field of Burberry winter 2023 purple roses popping into the first floor of Seoul’s Shinsegae Department Store's Gangnam branch is a feast for our psilocybin-loving eyes.

Hurry, because Burberry’s Seoul pop-up closes on September 24th. No, it’s not an apparition. NewJeans member and Burberry global ambassador Danielle was onhand to open the Burberry pop-up on September 15.

In a no-vote, non-compliment to AOC, this is not a new technique. In spring 2020, under the team of Riccardo Tisci and Marco Gentile, the Printemps-Haussmann boutique in Paris was awash in pink panthers. With black walls and a pink carpet, the Burberry pop-up a sex den vibe that did not elevate the Burberry brand in any way. But we either missed the event entirely; or we dismissed it.

‘Restrained Psychedelic Design’

This new Burberry pop-up in Seoul is sophisticated, charming in a totally-modern way and also a reflection of ‘restrained psychedelic’ design. There is nothing ‘flashy’ about the visual design; nor is it dull for one moment. It beckons us, however to explore it — which is a key attribute of a successful pop-up.

In a world where psilocybin use is coming at us in a profound and urgent way — after a Nixon-administration 50-year ban — my reaction to the purple roses display was instantaneous. My memory was transported to my own use of psilocybin and a dark night walk I took, eventually sitting down next to a flower bed on my own lawn.

That sensory experience has never left me, and I can still smell the dampness of the flower bed. Also, the contradiction to what I knew to be darkness and no lighting near the flowers, now transformed into flowers of every color — including purple.

AI Meets Psilocybin Head-On

Between the newly-unleashed rise of in-depth psilocybin medical research and the coming impact of AI image programs like Midjourney, Burberry is on a unique and universal-love visual path, whether they know it or not.

That statement is based on AOC’s total observations about Burberry under Daniel Lee, not only these in-store displays.

What is clear about psilocybin research is that is almost always has profound ubuntu-related responses.

Like the millions of ancestral psilocybin users in pre-Abrahamic religious groups, today’s psilocybin users report a lasting understanding of the interconnectedness of the human community, accompanied by a profound sense of spirituality and connection to ‘God’ in a powerful but abstract sense.

Anne can attest to the same lasting effects of those universal reports on my own wellbeing and mental health. Given the state of our world — and also here in America — psilocybin permanently etched me as an eternal optimist with an ‘ubuntu spirit’.

As for Burberry, the Spring 2023 show is Monday, the 18th. Where are we going? Deeper into the world of brain trickery and magic effects, I suspect. Whether our focus is flowers or fruit.

Burberry gives us a hint on their IG, leaving me eager to tune in. ~ Anne

Note: The show was unexpectedly quite sedate. No psilocybin world for spring 2024. Great trench coats, though.