Tory Burch's brand has long been lauded for its classic looks but it now seems to be evolving toward becoming more contemporary.

Striding down the runway to music from The Cure and Joy Division on Monday, models at New York Fashion Week paraded skirts inspired by lampshades -- US designer Tory Burch's celebration of making "the everyday sublime". 

The brightly coloured and sometimes shiny skirts seemed to stand alone at the waist and were designed to fold up "almost like origami," the designer told AFP.

"I wanted sharp corners, but... the skirt actually comes off and it folds up into nothing, is almost like origami," she said, celebrating the 20th anniversary of her brand.

Among the most singular works in her Fall/Winter 2024 collection, the skirts were worn with lightweight tops featuring long sleeves and hoods, during a runway show under the arcades of Manhattan's Great Library.

"I've tried to think about how to make the everyday sublime," she said.

Burch's brand has long been lauded for its classic looks but it now seems to be evolving toward becoming more contemporary.

She uses very light materials but gives them character with raw-cut seams, adds multi-coloured fringes to a long sequined coat, or makes a delicate ruffled dress protrude from a pleated jacket.

"I think it's about a woman who has confidence and is looking for optimism in the world," she said.

Seeking balance

True to the image of the Carolina Herrera brand founded in 1981, its new autumn-winter collection is characterized by precise, streamlined silhouettes, enhanced by ruffles on sleeves and skirts, as well as embroidery.

The fashion house's classics are all there, including pencil or ruffled skirts and black-and-white checked suits.

Wes Gordon, the house's artistic director, has really made his mark on colours, however.

He has taken the brand away from basics such as black, white and brown to combine blocks of red or navy blue with blacks, pinks, yellows and even florals.

All of this was designed to dress a woman who is "not shy, who is powerful, who was confident and loves clothes," he told AFP.

Gordon said he sought a balance between the "drama" of the colours and colour-blocking against the “precision and the discipline about the cut.”

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