A dress from Tory Burch’s last resort collection was in the Costume Institute’s “Women Dressing Women” exhibition earlier this year. Based on a ballerina’s tutu, its sheer stretch tulle bodice and floating skirt have a casual yet sensual vibe that feels classic but also contemporary: the love child of a Roman toga and a barre class outfit, maybe.
Casual but sensual definitely applies to the stretch mesh leotards and bike shorts that form the foundation of Burch’s new resort. At a showroom preview she said she was thinking about “spontaneity,” and the way women throw on new-season and old, day with evening, and maybe even a cocktail dress with exercise clothes. You can peep the mesh bodysuit and shorts under the slinky black number near the end of the lookbook.
A sense of eclecticism runs through this collection. The garment that opens the lookbook, for example—is it a shirt or a jacket? In striped cotton poplin, the term shirt qualifies, but a couple of looks later, the same silhouette in a black wool-cotton blend is most definitely a jacket. There is much experimentation with materials here. A burgundy trench and cinnamon-red skirt that look like ostrich are actually plated cotton. The shaggy mohair car coat? Turns out it’s brushed viscose. And would you believe a laser-cut coat and matching skirt started out as upholstery fabric?
Burch made a point of highlighting the pants. “I’m very excited about them, they’ve taken a long time to perfect,” she said. The cargoes that accompany those shackets have a pronounced slouch, but she also showed a culotte-length style with an a-line flair. Most unique are the barrel-shaped trousers in a velvet dévoré repeat pattern spelling out “sublime,” in a callback to her fall ’24 runway.