Tory Burch Biography

Young companies competing for awards with established names like Michael Kors and Marc Jacobs seldom succeed, but one did. Just four years after founding her first store in New York City's Nolita neighborhood, Tory Burch earned the Council of Fashion Designers of America's award for Best Accessory Designer of the Year in June 2008. (CFDA). Tory Burch grew up in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, in a large 250-year-old white Georgian mansion surrounded by 30 acres of property. It is also nearly unheard of to achieve $100,000 in sales on the first night of a store, as Tory Burch did. Growing up, Burch was a tomboy who enjoyed running about with her older brothers, Robert and James, or climbing trees in the backyard. Burch, who is now well-known for her feminine casual clothes, recalled having to be coerced into wearing a dress as a child by her mother. She went to the famous Agnes Irwin School, where she was the tennis team captain, a star athlete, and a horse enthusiast. She studied art history at the University of Pennsylvania, but it was nothing compared to her actual passion, which was fashion. She was quite well-dressed, even at the university. Tory Burch's parents provided their children with a comfortable, almost extravagant lifestyle on Philadelphia's Main Line, and their socio-economic status placed them in affluent social circles. Burch revealed to Vanity Fair in 2007 that her friend Patrick at the University described her style as, "Half preppy and half jock—or prock," and that it eventually became known as "Torywear." Her mother would make a detour in Morocco on the way home to buy tunics, which Tory has come to identify with. Buddy and Reva Robinson, Tory's parents, loved to spend their summers traveling around Europe. Her mother routinely purchased expensive apparel in New York City, and her wardrobe is filled with old fashion brands like Valentino and Zoran. In every interview, Burch admits that her parents' varied and cosmopolitan aesthetic affected her own design style. "I often see my mother Reva get dressed at night, and she always looks very chic. My father also had a natural sense of style. He used to create each piece of his clothing himself and add amazing embellishments, such as piping his dinner jackets with Hermes scarves and initialing all of his shirts. In an interview with Women's Wear Daily, Burch stated that he was one of her biggest, biggest influences. Reva Robinson attended Zoran so frequently that Burch's first job after graduating was working in the Public Relations department there. Audrey Hepburn's movie Two for the Road and 1960s and 1970s fashion also provided inspiration for Burch's fashion sense. She later went on to work as a copywriter for Ralph Lauren before leaving in 1995 to join Vera Wang's PR team. She temporarily wed William Macklowe, the son of New York real estate magnate Harry Macklowe, prior to working at Vera Wang. Chris Burch, a venture entrepreneur 14 years her senior, started popping up at Vera Wang. She fell pregnant with her twin boys Henry and Nick when they were on their vacation after being married in 1996. Chris Burch has three elder daughters—Pookie, Louisa, and Izzie—from a previous marriage. Later, Sawyer, her third son, was born. In a house full of six children, it became increasingly challenging for Tory to work and be a full-time parent. Burch has stated in numerous interviews that after 9/11 an inspirational commercial about "following your dreams" frequently came on, and she finally decided to take the plunge into fashion design—something she had never dipped her toe into. Burch says she gave up her career for a period of time, but she claims she began to grow "restless." She started cutting out pages from books, magazines, etc. and creating a scrapbook of sorts which later showed prominent fashion designers who were quite impressed with her ideas. Chris, her husband, provided $2 million in funding for most of her endeavors. Burch pulled the collection together over the course of eight months before its 2004 debut. She spent the entire previous night finishing touches with her stepdaughters. Before the business opened, Burch simply went home to take a shower. As a result of her elevated social standing at that time and the friendships she acquired while working for prominent design houses, her store opening was attended by a who's who of the fashion industry as well as celebrities and fashion columnists. Burch never anticipated that almost all of her merchandise would be sold out on her first day of business.

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