Tory Burch Continues to Play With Our Expectations

For Fall 2023, the designer’s cool, individualistic new era veers into a sexier direction.

Everyone’s been picking up on a new era at Tory Burch. The New York Times just ran a big profile on the designer, printing in the paper of record what fashion editors and followers have been remarking among themselves for the past few seasons — that this wasn’t the Tory Burch we knew back when, with its inescapable logo-branded flats and tote bags, but rather that her namesake brand was tapping into something much more current… and, frankly, cool.

As for what’s different, the New York Times and Burch herself will tell you the same thing: She’s just been able to focus her attention entirely on designing, versus splitting creative director and CEO duties. (She stepped back as CEO of the company in 2018, naming Pierre-Yves Roussel, a former LVMH executive — and her husband — as her replacement.) She’s also become less interested in exploring themes seasonally, and would rather pull inspiration from what’s around her, how she and women like her dress.

“I’ve been interested in the body and shape, now that I have more time to design — which is all my time, the last four, three [years],” she told Fashionista backstage. “I’ve really been interested in: How do you take rules and throw them out the window, and have women embrace their own individuality?”

For Fall 2023, that translates into looks that some might consider surprisingly risqué (within reason), like a suite of power-mesh pieces, satin camisoles and lace appliqués that bring shapewear principles into daywear.

“Traditionally, when you think of shapewear, women hide it — I wanted to expose it and make it beautiful,” she said. In this new era of Tory Burch, power mesh is the new jersey.

The collection also builds on this Fall 2023-wide idea we’ve seen at Proenza Schouler and Khaite: that the emphasis should be on making really good clothes, plain and simple.

“It’s how women dress now,” Burch said of the wardrobe-focused approach she took this season. “I love the idea of buying things that you layer onto other pieces and making it work. I want these pieces to be used over and over, worn in a look or not.”

The pieces can exist just as well individually as they can in concert with one another. Yes, there’s newness, but there’s not a feeling that they can exist in Fall 2023 and in Fall 2023 only. The denim, the blazers, the silk dresses — they’re forever.

See every look from the Tory Burch Fall 2023 collection.

Tory Burch Fall 2023. Photo: Imaxtree