Celebrity Names: Simone Ashley, Alva Claire, Tom Blyth
Brand Name: Burberry
Deal Type: Campaign Partnership
Announced: April 14, 2026
Impact: Reinforces Burberry’s strategy of pairing rising British cultural icons with its heritage check aesthetic; Alva Claire’s return signals growing model-brand loyalty; Simone Ashley’s first Burberry campaign adds fashion credibility to her expanding brand portfolio
- Burberry’s High Summer 2026 campaign stars British actors Simone Ashley and Tom Blyth alongside returning model Alva Claire, plus Babacar N’Doye, Sacha Quenby, and a cast of synchronized swimmers and divers.
- The campaign was shot by photographer Ryan McGinley and directed on film by Francis Plummer, trading the brand’s recent urban edge for a sun-drenched British lido setting.
- This marks Alva Claire’s second consecutive High Summer Burberry campaign, having previously starred in the 2025 iteration alongside Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Jack Draper.
- The High Summer 2026 collection features the Burberry Check in heritage-inspired sand beige and pastel shades of aubergine purple and cornflower blue, across bikinis, swim shorts, shirts, slides, and handmade raffia bags.
Burberry’s High Summer 2026 campaign has officially dropped, and it channels British nostalgia for lidos, the beloved outdoor public swimming pools that open the moment the sun shines.
Shot by photographer Ryan McGinley and directed by Francis Plummer, the campaign stars British actors Simone Ashley and Tom Blyth, models Alva Claire, Babacar N’Doye, and Sacha Quenby, alongside a cast of synchronized swimmers and divers splashing around the lido.
This is Claire’s second consecutive High Summer Burberry campaign, having starred in the 2025 edition alongside Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Jack Draper, making her something of a Burberry summer regular under Daniel Lee’s creative direction.
Burberry has a rich history of assembling star-studded casts, with its Summer 2025 main campaign featuring Kate Winslet, Aimee Lou Wood, Naomi Campbell, and Nicholas Hoult, among others.
For Simone Ashley, this Burberry campaign is her first with the brand, and it arrives amid a particularly busy season for the Bridgerton star. She recently appeared alongside Kendall Jenner in a buzzy L’Oréal Paris Oscars campaign and remains an active global ambassador for the beauty giant. She has also recently made her music debut with an EP titled Songs I Wrote in New York, released on April 10, 2026
Tom Blyth, who rose to fame as young Coriolanus Snow in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, starred in three projects in 2025 (Plainclothes, The Fence, and Wasteman) and kicked off 2026 starring in Netflix’s romantic comedy People We Meet on Vacation. This Burberry campaign marks one of his most high-profile fashion partnerships to date.
Takeaways
Burberry is doubling down on a strategy that blends British cultural icons across entertainment, modelling, and sport, and it’s working.
The brand has quietly built a summer campaign formula under Daniel Lee: find faces the culture already loves, put them in the Burberry check, and shoot it beautifully.
Last year’s High Summer campaign with Alva Claire and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley drove a 14% spike in engagement and searches for the iconic Burberry check bikini, expect similar momentum this time with two high-profile actors added to the mix.
Simone Ashley’s trajectory in the fashion world is also worth watching closely. She’s now carrying campaigns for both L’Oréal Paris and Burberry in the same season, which signals a deliberate strategy to establish herself as a multi-category fashion force, not just a TV star with a few deals.
Will Simone Ashley’s back-to-back L’Oréal Paris and Burberry campaigns in early 2026 cement her as one of Britain’s most commercially in-demand fashion faces? Are cinematic, narrative‑driven ads now essential for brands trying to stand out each season?
