Valley Forge-bred Tory Burch reveals sporty styles on NYFW runway

NEW YORK - Shortly after a cadre of angelic models in sparkling daywear and glistening gowns exited Tory Burch's spring 2016 runway show Tuesday, the Valley Forge-bred designer timidly appeared on stage.

Burch's New York Fashion Week bow is one of the few times the industry catches of glimpse of the shy designer - albeit a quick one.

Not this fashion season.

On Wednesday morning, Burch will unveil her athleisure wear at her Tory Burch boutique turned Tory Sport pop-up in SoHo. The line, a collection of fall women's wear, features pieces suitable for running, yoga, tennis, golf, and swimming.

"I wanted to focus on the elegance of sport," Burch said from her New York showroom.

A sixth category, "Coming and Going," essentially is a group of basics (like a black fitted blazer) tricked out with sporty details (think a dickey fashioned from windbreaker material).

Burch is among the biggest forces on the American fashion landscape right now. Like Lilly Pulitzer and Ralph Lauren before her, she modernized preppy for her generation and created a legion of loyal fans who ascribe wholeheartedly to her aesthetic.

"You get Tory when you buy Tory," said Roopal Patel, the fashion director of Saks Fifth Avenue. "She really, really introduced this idea of a lifestyle brand that speaks to the different facets of everyday women."

And a lifestyle that revolves around the gym speaks to today's ladies who lunch as much as it does to the cubicle girls.

Athleisure "isn't just a passing trend," Burch said with a knowing smile. "It represents a shift in how women dress. I was sitting with a friend at Cipriani in London, and we were chatting about Sport. And then she lifted her leg, and I saw she was wearing a Lululemon legging."

Who knows. If Tory Sport takes off - and given her track record, it likely will - Burch hinted at the possibility that Tory Burch might have a presence in Center City beyond the discount-store racks. (Finally.)

"Maybe one day for Sport," said Burch, 49. "But where would we open? On Walnut? That's my question. We'd have to figure out where to open it."

If there's any designer whose gut feeling has served her well, it's Burch. In 1988, Burch graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in art history. (She recently toured the school with her twin sons, who are high school seniors.)

She later worked in public relations and marketing for such designers as Ralph Lauren and Vera Wang. In 2004, Burch launched her company on a hunch that a few of her favorite things - like beaded tunics and ballet flats - might possibly seduce customers into embracing her artsy and well-traveled lifestyle. At the time, she was married to entrepreneur Chris Burch, a Bryn Mawr native, who helped her source the overseas manufacturing.

She opened a store in SoHo with all the things you might find in a wealthy women's boudoir, from candles and belts to easy-to-wear dresses. She also was one of the first companies to invest in the online experience.

In 2013, she partnered with Luxottica and produced a line of Jackie O-style sunglasses; the same year, she launched her first fragrance, partnering with Estée Lauder.

Today, Burch has one of the most recognizable and venerable names in the fashion industry. The company has an estimated net worth of $3.5 billion. In May, Forbes magazine included Burch on its list of America's Richest Self-Made Women. (Designers Donna Karan, Diane von Furstenberg, and Wang also made the cut.)

"Tory is unique because she is the customer she designs for," said Roger Farah, co-CEO of Tory Burch. Farah, who came on board 10 months ago, is known in the industry for turning Ralph Lauren into a lifestyle brand.

"She has an insight on balancing the function of a piece with what's needed to make it beautiful."

In July, Burch was awarded $41.2 million in a trademark-infringement lawsuit against Lin & J International. Her styles - especially shoes and handbags - are so widely copied because they rival Michael Kors and Coach among middle America's most aspirational brands.

"She's the biggest force that has come out of American fashion in the last 10 years, and even worldwide, because no one has done what she's done," said Teri Agins, author of Hijacking the Runway. "And she's leapfrogged ahead of so many fashion designers. That is also part of her storybook tale."

There are 163 Tory Burch stores, including a store in the Mall of San Juan in Puerto Rico, which opened in March, and a Paris store on the elite Rue Saint-Honoré.With the July opening of the Paris store came a special collection that featured skirts fashioned from Italian birds.

Although intensely private, Burch still has celebrity cachet - probably more so than any native Philadelphian right now. She has been romantically linked with Lance Armstrong (pre-steroid-scandal days), and she also dated hip-hop mogul Lyor Cohen, for whom she threw bashes attended by celebrities such as Beyoncé and Jay Z.

Earlier this month, Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign partnered with Anna Wintour and held a fund-raiser at Burch's Southampton, N.Y., mansion.

But while Burch doesn't socialize much in the area - at one time, she did serve on the Academy Ball committee - her philanthropy has had an impact. Through the Tory Burch Foundation, which she created in 2009, Burch has helped 300 women gain access to $5.2 million in business loans.

In early summer, Narberth entrepreneur Avi Loren Fox, whose company Wild Mantle makes scarves that double as hoodies, received a $15,000 loan from the Tory Burch Foundation.

"She's such an inspiration to me," said Fox, 28. "The world I'm designing for is the same world that she's in. It's luxury that's really practical."

Born in Valley Forge, Burch grew up on a "gentleman's farm" where the family raised German shepherds. Her dad, Earl "Bud" Robinson, was a businessman and member of the New York Stock Exchange. Mom Reva - for whom Burch's iconic ballet shoe is named - was a homemaker.

Burch, who describes herself as a tomboy - she says she didn't wear a dress until she went to her junior prom - was extremely athletic as a child. She was a gymnast, rode horses, and remains an avid tennis player.

"She was faster than I was," said Jamie Robinson, Burch's older brother, who lives in Bryn Mawr and attended Tuesday morning's show.

Burch isn't alone in embracing the athleisure trend. It's the fastest-growing segment in women's fashion right now. Designer Rebecca Minkoff is introducing a collection this year; actress Kate Hudson has a line called Fabletics.

Burch knows intimately what women need when playing sports and how they want to look after.

On a recent Tuesday afternoon, Burch walked through the bright-white Tory Sport showroom pointing out the details in her collections: the chevrons on the running pants, the cool-max fabric on the yoga shirts, the long-sleeved swimwear perfect for surfing. There are tennis dresses that can easily take you to the mall. The bags are oversize, and the shoes sparkle.

Burch spent three years working on the collection and enlisted the help of friend and New York socialite Gigi Mortimer, as well as her stepdaughter, Izzie Burch. They were inspired by the look of the fictional family in the 2001 movie The Royal Tenenbaums. The collection will be available online, and there are plans for a March opening of the first Tory Sport store in Manhattan.

"The whole idea is to elevate sportswear," Burch said. "We want to be premier sport."

And it has been fashionably proved that if Tory Burch needs it, the rest of us will want it, too.