February 12, 2026 |
What constitutes personal style, much less having a good one? It’s a discourse that ran rampant on Substack back in 2024. For Tory Burch, it’s less about a distinct definition and more about workshopping one’s sense of self. For her fall 2026 show, held at Sotheby’s at the Breuer, Burch looked towards her past to hone in on classic details that might stick in her shopper’s psyche. What will endure in a tumultuous world? The answer reflects the brand’s evolution to embracing quirk. Shining silver sardine pins, leather wrapped shell earrings, heels with a wider and rounder toe-box were charming and familiarly memorable. A blockbuster front row including Tessa Thompson, Pamela Anderson, Yuqi from I-dle, Amanda Seyfried and Myah’la, couldn’t help but lean in to catch the details.
In the shownotes, Burch explains that this collection was meant to show how a woman dresses by instincts and not rules. Bunny Mellon, the famed philanthropist and original society doyenne, was cited as a source of inspiration. Like Mellon, Burch wanted to break out of set rules and expectations. As such you’ll see a unique mixture of ready-to-work clothes next to peculiar dresses, all with unexpected but welcome colour combinations. There were thick and loosely fitting corduroys inspired by the designer’s father, washed and brushed wool sweaters that seemed to float, and skirts that sat low on the waist presented in both a buttery leather and weightless wool twill.
Building on this play with cut and weight, Burch continued to show she is a master of making the familiar feel special by bringing back statement belts, and weaponising colour by pairing a slick turquoise collar onto a silky yellow top, or also by twisting and knotting a series of Grecian dresses to resemble two hands tightly coiled. Speaking of knots, a particular one inspired by Mellon derived from a quilted cushion in her Antigua home (Burch acquired the residence in 2018), serves as a unifying detail throughout – a reminder of connection and strength.
For Burch, true style comes from experimentation with what you have. Two of the best looks fully distilled the spirit of instinctual dressing. An amazing washed silk dress had personality without much accessorising. Its pleated skirt stood out for having two front panels folded in to give the hips a heft that swayed the dress enough to make its attached ribbons fly. The closing number had a wool twill coat that had the suggestion of a lapel with a deep black velvet collar and buttons that added a necessary touch of whimsy to such a sharply tailored coat. There’s no way for sure to know what will endure, but Tory Burch makes the compelling case for these new classics.
Photography courtesy of Tory Burch.
