Tory Burch Hosted a Purrfect Party to Celebrate Her Animal House Capsule Collection

While we’re celebrating all things dogs and Dogue here at Vogue, over at Tory Burch’s Mercer Street store last night, cats were the focus of everyone’s attention—specifically, a cat photographed by Walter Schels in 1994 for the work named Katze.

“I’ve always been obsessed with Walter and his photography. The way he shoots animals is the way some people shoot people. Giving the animals the dignity they deserve is incredibly special,” Burch told Vogue last night.

Burch first used Schels’ photorealistic cat print in her Resort 2024 collectsion. To celebrate the launch, Burch partnered with Humberto Leon to open up a kitty-filled concept shop pop-up on Melrose Avenue.

The cat collectsion, dubbed Animal House, continues on for fall, and to inject excitement into the series, Burch called upon actor Maude Apatow and her cat Dolly to be photographed for the campaign, which launched last night.

Guests, like Beanie Feldstein, AnnaSophia Robb, Beverly Nguyen, and Maayan Zilberman, were greeted with Schels’ image which is blown up onto three floors of windows. Inside, waiters donning cat ears à la magical Mr. Mistoffelees passed out french fries and summer hors d'oeuvres. From the balloon animals by artist Robert Moy of Brooklyn Balloon to the luxury candy ring pops from Maayan Zilberman to a strawberry and cream tower, the event welcomed out everyone's inner child. And to delight inner cat ladies, Burch thoughtfully had illustrator Joana Avillez on hand, who whipped up pet portraits for any guest who had a photo handy.

Why such fuss about cats? An animal lover herself, Burch directed our attention to Schels’ quote from the epilogue of his book “Animal Portraits”: “Animals do not recognize their mirror images and presumably do not worry about their appearance.”

Burch adds, “Animals don’t look at themselves as being beautiful or not. They just are who they are.” 20% of the evening's proceeds will benefit Animal Haven.