How Tory Burch Has Embraced Change: WWD Honors 2024

This has been a banner year for Tory Burch. 

It started early when social media and Substackers started buzzing about the brand’s new look — the “Toryssiance,” some called it, talking about the new must-have accessories and elevated wardrobe workhorses. A new generation of tastemakers was also discovering the New York designer, with Hailey Bieber and Sabrina Carpenter wearing the hoop dresses and molded faux croc bodysuits, and Sydney Sweeney, Kendall Jenner, Emily Ratajkowski and more tapped as the latest Tory Burch campaign faces.

Moving way beyond prep, the American brand has also undergone a noticeable design turn, melding modern minimalism, sportif nods and architectural shapes. Heightened by elevated fabrications that contrast technical and sensual, the collections have featured fresh color palettes and unexpected, often playful and quirky details — pierced shoes and handbags, animal-shaped earrings and viral cat prints to name a few.

Burch worked hard to get here — selling “millions” of Reva logo ballet flats, she previously told WWD of her namesake business, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. But as seen through her latest collections, she’s looking forward rather than back. Burch’s inspirations stem from the way women dress today “for themselves more than they ever have” and “feeling their power, feeling their confidence,” she said.

The designer isn’t averse to taking risks and having fun, and it’s paying off. This year Burch is receiving the WWD Honor for Womenswear Designer of the Year for her ability to speak to today’s women through modern fashion. She’s also received nominations for the CFDA Fashion Awards in the categories of best womenswear designer and best accessories designer.

“Tory has been able to reinvent herself with the times in ways that most would find hard to achieve. Not to mention she has proven time and time again that she has undeniable staying power. The level of detail and craftsmanship that went into our collaboration for the Met Gala is living proof of that. She knows couture as well as she does leisurewear. And for a designer to execute both at such a high level is truly artful,” Uma Thurman, who was dressed by and attended the 2024 Met Gala with Burch, told WWD.

“I think the beauty of Tory is she is willing to evolve. To me, that’s the essence of modernity,” Humberto Leon, retail guru, restaurateur, girl group image maker and recent collaborator of Burch, echoed. “I think that’s why we see her work feel so on point and timeless. There’s an effortlessness to her collections that just feel really chill and easy. To me, that’s the perfect balance of being able to be effortless while still being luxurious. There’s a nonchalance about the Tory world.”

In recent years Burch has pointed to her spring 2021 Shaker-inspired lineup as the palate-cleansing collection that began to define her new chapter. Since then she’s consistently shifted from a product-driven label to one with more of a design-driven bent. While the Reva ballet flat (which made its return on the spring 2025 runway) became a historically significant product for the New York brand, the new Pierced accessories (a Pierced bag debuted for spring, too) and architectural ready-to-wear are two pieces of the puzzle that define the modern codes of the Tory Burch house.

“It’s been a work in progress for a while. Having my husband come on board and taking up the operations has given me time to actually think about what women meant to me and how I see them. It started when I started designing [Tory] Sport [in 2015], but now I would say for the last four years it’s been moving in a different direction that felt more personal to me,” Burch told WWD backstage at her spring 2025 runway show last month at Brooklyn’s Domino Sugar Refinery.

The collection referenced the subbrand’s sporty appeal with a heightened blend of sophisticated yet sexy garb via sequined nylon swimsuits as bodysuits; beautiful scarfy dresses; featherweight, slouchy-cool suede drawstring pants and skirts with intriguing molded waistbands, to name a few.

Burch has been able to focus on design more closely since relinquishing her role as chief executive officer when her husband, Pierre-Yves Roussel, joined the company as chief executive officer in 2019 from LVMH Fashion Group, where he was chairman and CEO. Around that time she also added an atelier to her New York headquarters (in 2018); hired her stepdaughter Pookie Burch (formerly the designer of Trademark) as associate creative director, and started working with stylist Brian Molloy to heighten the brand.

“The way Tory thinks is very different. She is incredibly talented at connecting the dots — between design, business, culture, and what’s happening in the zeitgeist. That’s what makes her so brilliant as a designer,” Roussel said. “Authenticity is at the core of everything Tory does, which is why her reinvention has felt so organic. She is evolving while remaining true to herself, and she is bringing her customer on the journey with her, as well as a whole new generation of customers.”

When Burch sought out to evolve her label, she wasn’t guided by precise themes or trends but was rather interested in a “dialogue that continues,” she said. “I wanted to build things and evolve them as I went. It’s been an internal discussion and discussion with my teams of having continuity, but evolving and innovating as we go.”

Evolution meant upping the ante in materials and design concepts (with prices to match), as seen through fall 2024’s lineup of sequined fringe, tinsel raffia and paper leather textured dresses, outerwear and lampshade-skirts that evoked the idea of “making the everyday sublime,” WWD wrote. Or resort 2025’s eclectic mix of offbeat and classic styles including a brushed viscose coat with the luxe appeal of a fur; quirky “banana heel” boots; easy paper jersey goddess gowns, and a three-piece crochet broomstick lace skirt that were designed for women seeking spontaneous, or “unplanned cool,” as she described. It’s a look that resonated on the spring 2025 runways at Prada, for one, putting Burch at the forefront of the global fashion discussion.

“You can talk a lot about all these different ideas around innovation and reinvention, but at the end of the day, if the product isn’t something that’s desirable, then it will not resonate. I’m very proud of the product that we’ve been really working on collectively as a team. The quality and the craftsmanship is something that I’m a fanatic about,” Burch said.

The same could be said for the brand’s summer Sublime fragrance launch in partnership with licensee Shiseido, which featured Kendall Jenner as its campaign face. Burch has described her creative approach to the category as similar to that of her fashion business.

“I think about individuality above everything else, and my approach [with fragrance] mirrors my design philosophy. It’s reimagining classics with a tension and contrast, building confidence,” she said

In the last year, the Toryssiance manifested at retail with Los Angeles and New York pop-up shops centered around her viral resort 2024 collection’s Walter Schels black-and-white cat shirts.

“I’ve admired Walter Schels’ work for a long time, and one of his quotes that really has always stood out to me is, ‘An animal doesn’t ask, am I beautiful?’ It’s so, in a way, poignant. It summed up so many different things and metaphors for life,” Burch said of the German photographer’s photo-realistic images of animals that appeared in the collection.

Burch tapped Leon to create the L.A. space that opened in January. She said the decision to partner with the Opening Ceremony designer and retailer was organic, and noted that while she’s “never been one to do a lot of collaboration, or collaborations at all,” she’d be open to more selective partnerships that feel meaningful to her and the company.

“I really took inspiration from knowing Tory,” Leon said of creating the brand’s playful pop-up with Burch, whom he’s been friends with for 20 years, and Roussel, who hired him while he was at LVMH to design Kenzo along with Carol Lim. “Tory gave me full freedom to do what I instinctively felt. All the ingredients were Tory, it was just re-contextualized in a way where it was like two friends chit-chatting while decorating a store,” Leon said.

“On a personal level, we both have an affinity for art, and we always talk about everything in culture, not necessarily about fashion,” he said. “I’m excited that people get to see this other side of Tory and the work that we do. I think she’s super funny, and I don’t know that people know that about her,” he added.

Burch’s ethos expands beyond fashion, as seen through the Tory Burch Foundation, which each year selects 50 female entrepreneurs for the year-long Tory Burch Foundation Fellow Program, which was designed to help them grow their businesses through financial resources, network-building, coaching sessions and workshops. As of March, the program has provided $1.9 million in grants to help 280 women entrepreneurs.

This year, Tiffany Dufu was tapped as the foundation’s president after serving as president of The White House Project, founding the peer-coaching tech company The Cru; acting as chief leadership officer of Millennial professional network Levo; penning the bestselling book “Drop the Ball: Achieving More and Doing Less,” and becoming a launch member of “Lean In,” an initiative of the Sandberg Goldberg Bernthal Family Foundation.

“Tory has the courage to bet on herself and encourages other women to do the same. When I first took this role, we hosted a call with 50 of our Tory Burch Fellows and I was struck by a piece of advice Tory gave them — ‘If you’re an entrepreneur your instinct is very valuable. Trust in yourself and your vision,’” Dufu said. “I know from my experience building a company that trusting your gut is important, and your network is invaluable. Every day, we bring women entrepreneurs together so they can grow their networks to build the companies that can change industries and communities.”

Throughout her 20-year business and recent new direction, Burch has sustained her position as a powerful force in American fashion, and a marquee name of New York Fashion Week each season.

“I like to support New York City and American fashion. That’s something that I am very interested in. I don’t think it’s a bad idea for other brands to show elsewhere — looking at what Mary Kate and Ashley [Olsen] are doing [at The Row in Paris], I think that’s really interesting. But from our perspective, I really like showing here,” Burch said.

“There’s a lot to be inspired by in America. I think a lot about the impact American fashion has had on fashion and design globally. It’s quite impressive…from obvious sportswear to street you’re at the heart of it here. There’s so many talented designers that are really new and upcoming, but also more established. I think it’s really interesting to see. I really love when people appreciate American fashion, because it’s worthy of appreciation.”