Tory Burch’s ‘Bunny Knot’ bag looks to Bunny Mellon for inspiration

Tory Burch’s ‘Bunny Knot’ bag began with the discovery of a quilted chair in the American designer’s Caribbean estate on the island of Antigua, formerly owned by the American philanthropist, horticulturist and art collector, Rachel Lambert ‘Bunny’ Mellon.

Where traditional quilted upholstery is indented by tufting buttons, here, the indentations are marked by a series of criss-crossing knots – a subtle detail that Burch says epitomises Bunny Mellon’s ‘perfectly imperfect’ approach to design, and famous design maxim that ‘nothing should be noticed’.

On the bag itself, which first appeared as part of the designer’s A/W 2026 show – a musing on the archetypes of a woman’s wardrobe – the quilting is reimagined in leather, and the knot in metal. Ladylike in style, it is completed with a simple shoulder strap and Tory Burch’s signature double-T clasp, partially concealed by the flap construction.

‘[It is] a meditation on what endures – classics shaped by history and utility, made personal through our own stories and experience,’ she said of the eclectic collection, which also featured embroidered cardigans, Shetland wool sweaters, and references to her father’s clothing.

It was Mellon who would prove the collection’s patron saint, though, with Burch revisiting the figure, having penned the foreword to the 2022 book Bunny Mellon Style. ‘The mix reflects how women dress now: by instinct, not rules,’ she said. ‘No one exemplified this quite like Bunny Mellon.’