Not that channeling Prada’s sister brand is a bad thing

American designers have always been inspired by what is happening in Europe, at least aesthetically. Back in the fifties, it was even thought to be rampant “copying”, so much so that Christian Dior famously thwarted American efforts in knocking off his designs by using invisible ink to track illicit copies and by insisting that clients sign contracts to prevent the unauthorized use of his designs. Those days are long gone, but Europe is still a great source of inspiration for many brands. And one of them that we noticed moving towards the direction of an extremely popular European label is Tory Burch, with more than a whiff of Miu Miu. Lest we are mistaken, we are not saying that the brand is copying Miu Miu, but they are channelling a certain verve of Prada’s sister brand.

Or, to be more precise, adopting Miu Miu’s non-cookie-cutter creative methodology: choosing the familiar, but playing with proportion, embracing a certain kind of off-beat proper, and styling pieces in a way that feels less ‘sensible’ and more spontaneous. Take the almost-mundane polo shirt, successfully reintroduced by Miu Miu for the 2024 spring season. Ms Burch made hers look more like shirts, but with double polo collars. These were not piled on top of the other. They comprised of a shorter rear and a separate piece in front, forming an almost petaloid frame for the neck, effectively turning something boyish into an article of subtle girlishness. The polo shirts were teamed with low-slung narrow skirts, cinched with a thick belt, all projecting the ease of wearing jeans.

And there were those relaxed shifts or vaguely 1920s dresses that could have come out of Daisy Buchanan’s wardrobe: airy, low-waisted, some embroidered with symmetrical curlicues reminiscent of Art Deco interior patterns. They kept to the slightly off-tangent vibe of the collection. Ms Burch, who started her ready-to-wear line at the founding of her “lifestyle brand” in 2004, did not always come across as this refined. It was until the spring/summer 2022 collection that a breakthrough of sort was discerned. That collection, with their geometric and colour-blocking fearlessness, took us by surprise, and we have been following the brand since. Before that, Tory Burch was not deemed as a paragon of polished urbanity. After 2022, the stores looked as though they’d been restocked by a different century: You saw designs that stood the rigors of scrutiny.

The changes we witnessed seemed to have coincided with the brand’s new CEO: former LVMH Fashion Group chief executive, Pierre-Yves Roussel, who is also Ms Burch’s husband. It is thought that his appointment allowed Tory Burch to step away from the business operations and logistics of running a global company and focus almost exclusively on her role as chief creative officer, allowing her to be free to take creative risks. Mr Roussel’s business decisions have directly enabled the brand’s creative pivot. And it showed that Ms Burch is able to look at the broader fashion landscape and respond to what is presently creatively and culturally resonant. It has been a strategic evolution that demonstrates her understanding of the language of contemporary designs with a luxury tag even if it has not totally cast off their earlier ‘masstige’ positioning.

Take her moderately offbeat chromatic choices: Now, there were sizzling pinks and Lemonhead yellows befriending classic neutrals. Or the geek-chic’s weakness for baby blue and dark chocolate. There was also the more daring pairing of fabrics or what she called combining the “opulent” with “corporate-coded”. A mash-up that was, thankfully, more medley than motley. Women, no matter how rule-breaking they are in their clothing choices, need a no-nonsense handbag to ‘anchor’ them, and there was no shortage of structured, expensive-looking, lady-like bags in the collection, illustrating a fetching, even high-low, mingle that felt very much in the spirit Miu Miu’s intellectual approach to design and styling. The magic, as they say, is in the mix. In a very different America today, that signals a move away from the flashy, exaggerated aesthetic of Mar-a-Lago beauty fot a confident, and sophisticated form of American luxury.

Screen shot (top): toryburch/YouTube. Photos: Tory Burch