Style & Fashion

At Tory Burch, a collection of summery looks was applauded by Tiffany Haddish, Julianne Moore, and Katie Holmes. Elsewhere, Christopher John Rogers showcased facial rhinestones.

Here is Tory Burch appearing at the end of her Spring Summer 2019 show in New York on Friday morning. And yes, that’s Tiffany Haddish and Julianne Moore showing their appreciation.

And here’s a bold claim: Burch’s show was the loveliest of New York Fashion Week so far. It was held on a finally reasonably temperate morning in the stately courtyard of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and it was beautifully choreographed along paths fringed with lemon trees. (Other designers: lemon trees make a setting pretty gorgeous.)

The front row included Haddish, Moore (who gamely blew a kiss in The Daily Beast’s direction), Katie Holmes, Danai Gurira, and Gemma Chan. That’s a pretty fab front row.

The clothes were Burch at her best, with a sharpened and focused preppy whimsy in embellished chiffon caftans, Moroccan raffia and linen coats, skirts, and pants, poplin tunics, shirts, and skirts, and dresses, blouses and pants in silk satin. Cotton and linens predominated: these were clothes for lazy days outside, drinking something chilled.

There were 45 looks in all, which is a lot, and you wanted more because pretty much every single one was an inventive delight. Burch said her inspirations were her parents, Buddy and Reva Robinson.

“Every summer, they boarded a steamer ship and spent six weeks sailing from Italy and Greece to Morocco and Spain,” Burch said in show notes. Their wanderlust has inspired this winning collection, with its “silhouettes of bohemian ease, balancing volume and tailoring,” alongside “well-worn hats and woven shoes.”

The lemon trees, it turns out, were no accidental accessory.