Portal:Fashion/Selected biography/4

Tory Burch (born June 17, 1966; née Robinson) is an American fashion designer business woman and philanthropist, who has won several fashion awards for her designs. She was born, raised, and educated in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. After graduation from college, she moved to New York City, where she began a career working with fashion designers, including Zoran, a Yugoslavian designer. She worked at Harper's Bazaar magazine, Vera Wang, and was a copywriter for Polo Ralph Lauren. She began a fashion label, "TRB by Tory Burch"—later known as "Tory Burch", in February 2004. As of April 2012, the company has grown to 68 Tory Burch stores worldwide, 48 in the US and 20 internationally. Her fashion line is carried at over 1,000 department and specialty stores worldwide, including Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's. Her flagship store is in the NoLIta neighborhood of Manhattan. In April 2005, Oprah Winfrey endorsed her line on The Oprah Winfrey Show. In 2009, Tory Burch sold a minority stake in her company to a Mexican private equity firm, Tresalia Capital. Additional minority investors were added in December 2012 in conjunction with the settlement of a legal dispute between Burch and her ex-husband. This settlement is said to have removed a substantial obstacle to a forthcoming IPO, which has been the subject of considerable discussion in the financial and fashion industries.