What does 'dress like a woman' look like? For Tory Burch, it's suits and frills

Tory Burch has some ideas about what it means to “dress like women,” as does the rest of New York Fashion Week.

Maybe it's the current political climate, or just a cosmic coincidence, but this awards season's parade of tuxedos has proven that Hollywood actresses are thinking beyond the gown. And two weeks after a report claimed that President Trump wants female White House employees to "dress like women,” New York designers are providing their own definitions of what that should look like, and it's not confined to dresses and skirts.

Enter Burch, whose feminine silhouettes and playful prints got a menswear-inspired update at her show Tuesday, referencing a certain suit-loving Hollywood icon.

“We found inspiration in the fearlessness and irreverence of Katharine Hepburn’s character in The Philadelphia Story,” Burch wrote in the press notes, referencing the classic 1940 romantic comedy. “Her outdoor glamour combined with a confident femininity creates a modern take on the familiar style of my own roots in Philadelphia,” including “soft men’s briefcases (and) a pendant necklace inspired by my father’s cigarette lighter.”

Hepburn famously swapped her trademark suits for frillier dresses to play a socialite in The Philadelphia Story, and Burch's collection tapped into that juxtaposition, pairing its briefcases and tweeds with bows, ballerina prints and other romantic details. (After all, the show was on Valentine's Day.)

Burch's own outfit was no exception.

Over the weekend, collections from Tibi and Victoria Beckham also made the argument that dressing like women includes a closet full of suits, with Beckham's collection specifically focusing on "gentleman's club colors" to convey "a sense of emancipation."

While fashion week's pantsuits and menswear separates kept their politics in the subtext, Evan Rachel Wood explained exactly why she was ditching dresses for tuxedos while speaking to USA TODAY on the Golden Globes red carpet.

"I decided early in the year not to wear any dresses to awards shows to be a gentle reminder to young girls and women that you're not required one if you don't want to, to really be yourself and that your worth is more than the dresses that you wear," she said.

Here's why Evan Rachel Wood's Golden Globes suit is so inspiring