Embrace your imperfections. That was the message of Tory Burch’s fall collection, which brought together many of the trends emerging in New York this week, mixing strong outerwear and tailoring with lingerie and feminine knits.
“I’m fascinated about how women today have been liberated from a preconceived concept of beauty,” the designer said during a preview, sharing how that pushed her to break down and distort traditional feminine tropes, taking inspiration everywhere from her grandmother’s girdles to patchwork denim skirts from her own DIY high school days.
There was a prep-school nostalgia to the masculine/feminine sportswear mix. Mesh and lace-inset sleeveless satin tops (complete with the classic center rosette detail Burch blew up for effect) were key pieces, and looked great with straight skirts and riding boots, but would also do well with slouchy jeans.
“We deconstructed old girdles to understand how they were made,” Burch said, noting that the mesh material holds the wearer in, and likening it to wearing shapewear on the outside, loud and proud.
Burch also focused on tailoring, including plenty of slouchy pants and silky shirts. An acid green satin coatdress was constructed “backward” and wool kilts were cut off-kilter and worn with polo sweaters. Burch even flouted the old rule of no white after Labor Day, showing a chic white leather peacoat with a swing back.
She did a lot of work elevating her outerwear, from developing a velvet “astrakhan” that looked like the real thing to perfecting the classic navy peacoat with a shearling collar worn with a fraying denim skirt. “It’s my favorite pea coat I’ve ever made,” Burch said. And she’s made lots.
A lipstick red cashmere sweater with sleeves pre-scrunched up, worn with shiny brown pants was super chic, and a gray bouclé coat came pre-pilled, “a reminder that there is beauty in wearing — and wearing out — your clothes,” according to the notes.
Safety-pin brooches, flap handbags with asymmetric sliced Double T logos, and pumps with intentionally “broken” heels added to the feeling of being undone and being fine with it, thank you very much.
Burch has taken a new design approach since COVID-19 and after her husband, Pierre-Yves Roussel, took over as chief executive officer, giving her more time to devote to the creative side of the business. She’s pulled back almost entirely from wholesale, elevated the product and deemphasized her logo, which at the beginning was driving the majority of sales on ballet flats and other goods.
Prices, at least for the runway collection, are higher, and pieces are designed to be more easily interchangeable with other designer labels.
But, she insists, there’s still plenty for her aspirational customer. “What I work on constantly is what we call pieces of the dream — to me that’s one of the most important parts of our business–but I’ve made them more inspiring,” Burch said. “Even a $495 handbag has to be extraordinary. And we’ve found that we do have a customer that does buy the $495 handbag but also a $2,500 handbag. That’s what’s interesting to me — how do we never lose that because that’s why I started the company.”
