Athletic Elegance
Review of Tory Burch Spring 2025 Fashion Show
By Mark Wittmer
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
Athletic. Precise. Fluid. Flexible.
While the excitement around the Olympics has seen fashion and sport cross over like never before (with more certainly to follow in the European fashion weeks), Tory Burch gave us one of the most unique and thoughtful takes on athletically influenced fashion yet, tapping into principles of precision, grace, and performance, but doing so with a lens of subtle elegance.
Backstage, the designer shared that the word “synchronicity” was on her mind – the harmony between the function and form, intention and action. In the collection, this meant some more overt references to the aerodynamic structures and linear graphics of athletic wear and structures drawn from swimming and judo, but also in a new consideration for versatility and the way things shape to or wrap around the body. The skirt in the opening look, for example, was created with a rigid yet flexible mesh structure allowing it to be rolled or sculpted so it almost floats off the human form. Even when more traditional dressmaking techniques like ruffles, flounces, and bows appeared, they were done so with a kind of liquidity: these pieces are not static, but fluid, changing like the water through which an Olympic swimmer speeds onward – a spirit that was echoed by the amazing set design that transformed the top of the Domino Sugar Refinery into a tiled pool.
Especially worth noting in terms of accessories is the Pierced handbag, a new extension of the designer’s wildly popular (with good reason) footwear motif that now extends to a super slick handbag number.
THE DIRECTION
THE QUOTE
Everything’s so chaotic in the world that I want to have some power in the way athletes think about what they do and the precision of how they do it. So it started there, and then it just took a light reference from different sports, whether it was Judo or swimming or riding or tennis, but it was really just about freedom movement and form.”
THE WRAP UP
On paper, the idea of another athleticism-inspired collection may not have seemed exciting. But Burch is so in touch with her brand and her consumer that she was able to integrate an athletes’ principles of precision, intentionality, flexibility, and power into her collection in a way that was fresh, fluid, and, most importantly, all her own.
