Downtown girl
When Tory Burch conceived her eponymous label at her kitchen table just over 10 years ago, little could she have known it would become a global fashion powerhouse. Jing Zhang finds out how the mother-of-three did it
Despite being known as the epitome of Upper East Side chic, Tory Burch, at 48, still looks every inch the sorority sister and high school tennis champion she used to be. Yet Downtown New York is where her heart really lies, she says, citing the area's restaurants, energy and music - specifically (and, perhaps, surprisingly) its rap scene.
"I'm always going to concerts, much to my boys' dismay and embarrassment now that they're getting older," Burch laughs, the day after her spring-summer 2015 show at New York Fashion Week.
"The twins are turning 17 and I have a little 13-year-old, and they're very interested in hip hop … I taught them everything they know about music and now suddenly I'm uncool!"
Burch's disclosure is the first sign that we should not judge this book by its cover. With her all-American cheerleader beauty Burch looks as though she was born into the pages of a glossy magazine. But scratch beneath the surface and there is a complex, self-aware woman, full of contradictions and ambition.
"I was a real tomboy when I was a child," she says, perching on a plush couch in her elegant New York headquarters. "I could barely get dressed [properly]. I had three brothers, who I used to play sports with all the time."
And although fashion wasn't an early calling, Burch is now one of the world's most prominent female designers. And as a chief executive, her strategic prowess has made her brand a commercial sensation, and turned this Pennsylvanian-born tomboy into a billionaire.