Tory Burch Reimagines Coastal Grandmother Aesthetic with Personal Twist at Sotheby’s

Tory Burch packed the Breuer building at Sotheby’s on the Upper East Side with mustard yellow carpeting, retro wood panels and a 42-look fall collection that felt like a personal reconnection. Show notes framed the season as “a meditation on what endures, especially in times of chaos and despair,” and the collection introduced a new visual code—the Bunny Knot—that showed up everywhere from quilted bags to nubby raffia knits.

The Bunny Knot itself came straight out of Bunny Mellon’s Antigua house, which Burch purchased and restored about 10 years ago. WWD reported that knotted quilted cushions found in the house’s basement became a motif for the season, and Wmagazine captured Burch’s intent plainly: “The simple knot is a reminder of connection, strength and unity.” On the runway the knot translated into quilted Bunny Knot bags, three-tone raffia bags that editors plastered across Instagram Stories, and even exploded hardware on shoes that riffed on pilgrim details.

Silhouettes swung between lived-in and architectonic. WWD’s read was sharp: Burch updated classic American resort codes for fall with tailored trenches, roomy knitwear, relaxed shirting and painterly neutrals. Drop-waist dresses nodded to the 1920s and 1930s but were tougher this season in dense four-ply washed silk with twists, pleats and deconstructed seams; WWD summed the dresses up as “pretty, but not precious, and utterly cool.” There was an electric orange twisted frock that hinted at Grecian drape, scaled-up overcoats, and ankle cigarette trousers cutting a polished line through many looks.

Texture mattered. Chunky Shetland-brushed wool sweaters with distinct collars, cardigans embroidered in ornate badla by Indian artisans, cashmere crewnecks layered over button-downs, and tissue-thin knits in orange and lavender created that coastal grandmother softness with intent. Marie Claire flagged practical details that read like lifestyle dressing: cashmere crewnecks with sleeves rolled over a button-down and, for the first time on a Tory Burch runway, a vintage-inspired watch with lizard black and croc brown straps.

Accessories stole the show in their own way. WWD noted that “funky shoes have been on fire at the brand, and continued to prevail throughout fall,” with exploded shoe hardware that Burch said she’d “always wanted to do.” Jewelry leaned playful and a little whimsical: leather-wrapped painted shell earrings, a growing assortment of metal pins, and the sardine pins and fish-motif necklaces WhoWhatWear flagged as a surprising trend update. On the front row Tessa Thompson and Amanda Seyfried grooved to a remix of Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5,” while Pamela Anderson and Mary Beth Barone looked on, which underlined the show’s warm, communal vibe.

Burch made the point that this collection is both personal and strategic. Backstage she told reporters, “When the world is so chaotic, desperate, and sad, I felt like I wanted to go back to familiar territory.” And she pushed the business thesis harder onstage in a long reflection: “I think what’s great is that after having that ability to rethink the business - the design of everything six years ago, we now approach who we started as, in a different way. And for me, that’s really wonderful to come back to who we are, but also who I personally am,” Burch said. The upshot is readable: the Bunny Knot, the raffia bags, and the sardine pins aren’t throwaway moments. Between the viral three-tone raffia bag and the focus on wearability, Tory Burch is betting on pieces you actually keep—pieces meant to look good now and ten years from now.