ELLE – “What college student upholsters her walls with fabric?” quips actress Lizzie Olsen, the indie darling and now muse to designers Pookie and Louisa Burch (Olsen’s former NYU roommate and current neighbor). Despite the sisters’ protestations that they never envisioned themselves joining the family firm—their ex-stepmother is design doyenne Tory; Dad is J. Christopher Burch, the fashion-industry vet behind C. Wonder and a host of other brands—Olsen says, “it would have been shocking if they hadn’t gone into design. They’re just such clean, crisp dressers, and if you were to walk into either of their apartments, you’d assume they were professional decorators.”
After studying photography at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Pookie (née Alexandra) spent time working with textile distributors for her father’s operations in Asia. Tory is a constant source of advice, but you’ll find none of the high-gloss interiors or branded ballet flats that have become synonymous with the family’s surname at Trademark’s sleek 2,500-square-foot SoHo flagship. The sisters Burch turned instead to Stockholm-based retail architect Andreas Bozarth Fornell (Acne, Sandro) to create the chicly sparse, stained concrete and bird’s-eye maple–paneled Grand Street space as a perfect complement to the pared-down elegance of their modern renditions of classic American sportswear.
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