On Sunday morning, inside the Brooklyn Museum, the white-arched Beaux-Arts Court was transformed into a garden party where an indulgent spread of cakes, pastries, berries and scones flourished across an embroidered floral tablecloth. It was a feast fit for royals that set the scene for Tory Burch’s Spring/Summer 2020 collection, which looked to the late Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales, for inspiration.

Princess Diana’s style icon status is an easy connection to make, but Tory Burch was especially interested in channeling “her fearlessness, her intelligence and, most of all, her humanity.” With regards to the latter, Natalia Vodianova (a humanitarian in her own right who founded the Naked Heart Foundation) opened the show in a handkerchief intarsia cotton-silk top and skirt — featuring the same floral embroidery as that found on the tablecloth — worn with tennis shoes and jewelled pearl drop earrings.

A parade of billowing day frocks followed, calling upon English garden florals and the restrained volume of the ‘80s. There were puff sleeves and Peter Pan collars; wide-shouldered suits and two-tone lapels; pussy-bow blouses and vintage silk prints; and polite tweed cardigans reminiscent of the era. As for the shoes — metal-buckle loafers, polka-dot sling-backs, and satin pumps embellished with bows.