On Wednesday night at Sotheby’s new Breuer Building headquarters, Tory Burch showed guests including Pamela Anderson, Tessa Thompson, Amanda Seyfried, Mary Beth Barone and more a fabulous fall collection inspired by two of her style icons: her father, as always, and Bunny Mellon.
During a preview, Burch said she’d been thinking about clothes out of history, and how they’re reinterpreted through different lenses, and how style endures amid the world’s current chaos.
“What I wanted to do is to take these classic ideas and spin them, twist them and move them in a different, more individual idea and direction,” she explained, pulling out a pair of her father’s own corduroy pants, recreated in great apricot and saffron shades, and paired with cozy triple-washed and brushed marled Shetland wool sweaters atop Peter Pan collared shirts.
Each look came in an enticing color-blocked mix — a nod to how Burch sees women dressing now, and to her admiration of how the iconic landscape designer, horticulturist and philanthropist Mellon’s work and style were led “by instinct, not rules.”
“I called [Mellon’s] grandson, who is going to be at the show, and I said, ‘I want to honor your grandmother, because she’s one of the most stylish women that ever existed, and just one of those people that doesn’t get the credit that she deserves,’” she added.
Mellon and Burch’s father were the foundation for her approach of honoring classic archetypes and pumping them up for the now with fabric innovation, ample color and city-slick silhouettes in new proportions, which ranged from sharp tailoring and outerwear to classic cardigans with striking gilded badla embroideries, hand-done by Indian artisans.
The array of dresses also played into the idea via an electric orange twisted frock that alluded to Grecian dress, or 1920s and ‘30s-inspired drop-waist dresses. She introduced the latter for spring via delicate styles, but fall’s had a much tougher appeal in dense four-ply washed silk numbers with twisted, pleated or deconstructed details. Pretty, but not precious, and utterly cool.
Burch added that 10 years ago, she purchased and restored Mellon’s Antigua house. And so Mellon’s knotted cushions found in the basement became a code of the season, as seen through the new Bunny Knot quilted bags, as nubby raffia details woven into a chunky navy sweater, and as exploded hardware on shoes — which reminded Burch of pilgrim shoes, which she “always wanted to do.”
Funky shoes have been on fire at the brand, and continued to prevail throughout fall, as did her growing jewelry assortment, which ranged from leather-wrapped and painted shell earrings to the vintage-y sardine pins that added a playful kookiness to the lineup.
“I think what’s great is that after having that ability to rethink the business — the design of everything six years ago, we now approach who we started as, in a different way. And for me, that’s really wonderful to come back to who we are, but also who I personally am,” Burch said. “I felt for many years the company I loved, but it wasn’t a personal reflection of me, and this isn’t a reflection of me, but it’s just personally how I see women more. I’m lucky to have been able to do this.”
Throughout, fall’s personality-driven approach of twisting classics pushed Burch’s exploration of enduring, individual style to the next level. After all, why not look good, and have fun doing so?