For her fall 2024 collection, Tory Burch was preoccupied with making “the everyday sublime,” as she put it. Similarly, the third-year Parsons students competing for a paid summer internship at her brand earlier this week focused on making upcycled materials into extraordinary new garments. This project is part of the brand’s five year partnership with the school.
The concept, which builds on Tory Burch’s own sustainability efforts, was this: Old samples, discards, and extra materials were donated to a class at the design school. The professor then divided the pieces and assigned them to the 268 students to remake in a way that expressed Tory Burch’s brand values. A few students received full pieces; another got just a multitude of shoestrings. Each had three weeks to complete the assignment, and the professor chose eight finalists to present their work to the designer and her team.
Starting with a flower-trimmed shirt, Yu-Tent Tori Chen created a printed cape top as the start of an imagined collection based on the subject of love. Working with a live-for-yourself theme, Silin Gu crafted a wine carrier with an orange handle and bottom and even made a lamp from a shoebox, cutting pieces out in a T shape and adding lights. A polka-dot minidress was transformed into a top with strands of intricately crafted baubles made of scrap materials and beads by Olive Eng-Canty, who wanted to explore movement. Building on Burch’s equestrian interests, Alicia Corradini made a jockey-inspired suit that incorporated the crop top she received. And continuing the sports theme, Kailey Kim combined tennis influences with wrestling ones, crafting her own textile out of strips of the dress that was her starting point.
Having looked through one of the brand’s books, Yuhe Tracy Lin landed on stripes as a starting point, to which she added a figural line drawing from Louise Bourgeois. The result was an anorak with a removable hood and a curved back, with an opening conceived as a window onto the irregularly woven strips of green fabric that formed the reverse side of a skirt; the idea was to embrace imperfection. Rose Qi was also interested in straight lines. Having received shoelaces, she tried different weaving tactics before laying them side by side with the logo tips facing out. The placement of the laces created an Art Deco–ish pattern that echoed some of New York City’s famous architecture. Tying up the presentations was Zhuoying Dai, who laser-cut Tory Burch shopping bags into a chic perforated tote. She used the same technique for a hat, a belt, eyewear, and jewelry with removable charms, all made of paper or vellum.
Delighted with the students’ results, Burch explained that she got into fashion by working with a tailor to alter vintage pieces and treasures from her mother’s closets, essentially working with what was at hand. Of the Parsons project, she said, “It shows you can take anything and be super creative with it and create something else.”
