An armour of optimism: Tory Burch finds power in opulence
For spring/summer 2027, Tory Burch set opulent femininity against utilitarian sportswear in a collection built on colour, texture and controlled excess. Anders Christian Madsen reviews the show.
“With everything happening in the world, I kind of think people are looking for joy and optimism,” Tory Burch said of her spring/summer 2027 show, staged in Isamu Noguchi’s Sunken Garden in Lower Manhattan. Her answer was opulent femininity set against utilitarian sportswear, worn by a cast that included Emily Ratajkowski and Alexa Chung. “How do we push ourselves to really push the idea of interesting details, colour, things that make you feel good?” she asked. In Burch’s hands, that meant treating embellishment not as excess but as a kind of armour of optimism.
That instinct came through in saturated, difficult-to-place colours and surfaces worked with embroidery, tie-dye, flocking, chenille, metallic thread and seed beads. The richness was offset by disciplined tailoring. “With tailoring, I’m very precise,” Burch said, citing Savile Row as a constant influence. Sharp shoulders, shifting waistlines and less restricted draping gave the collection its tension, while the handcrafted surfaces kept the clothes from feeling too controlled. It was glamour with friction: polished, but never prim.
Burch has long been interested in the collision of high and low, and here that contrast felt especially relevant. The clothes proposed joy without escapism, using precision, texture and colour to make optimism feel powerful rather than forced. “I wanted it to be pushed where it wasn’t as restricted,” she said. That looseness gave the collection its ease, allowing its opulence to feel modern rather than ceremonial.
With everything happening in the world, I kind of think people are looking for joy and optimism.
TORY BURCH
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