Antonia Gentry Has Been Ready for Her Tory Burch Invite Since High School

Some fashion people are new to Tory Burch. Antonia Gentry, star of Netflix's hit dramedy Ginny Georgia, is true to Tory Burch.

We're currently living through the peak of the Toryssaince—a period beginning around the Spring 2022 collection, when Burch started experimenting with more adventurous layering techniques and silhouettes, and swapped the logos on her best-selling flats for hardware studs and shoe piercings. The sheer good-ness of the clothes has given rise to a new generation of fans and critical acclaim—but Gentry's been on board with Burch's agenda since she was a teenager in Atlanta, pining after anything and everything with the designer's tags. Then she became a break-out streaming phenomenon and got to stop wishing for the clothes. She was invited to wear them in the label's Spring 2025 front row instead, alongside the likes of Elizabeth Olsen and Joey King.

"I was sent Tory Burch clothes during my first press run for Ginny Georgia Season 1, and it was a full circle moment for me being able to go to the show," Gentry tells me in an email from the set of Ginny Georgia's third season. "I remember aspiring to wear Tory Burch since high school. The cool girls wore Tory, the vacationers, the go-getters, and it was really such a lovely moment for me to experience it all."

With ties like that, of course Gentry would take a quick break from filming to attend Tory Burch's latest New York Fashion Week runway. She and stylist Thomas Carter Phillips (the same fashion mastermind behind Meghann Fahy's recent Victoria Beckham lace naked dress), landed on a white matching set consistent with Burch's new design era. The Tory Burch Gentry fell in love with in high school might have cut her structured jacket from a cotton poplin or checked wool. Today's Tory Burch retrofitted a crochet-like knit with a high, stiff collar and fluted sleeves.

Gentry and Carter Phillips added a pair of extra-oversize pink sunglasses and a pair of Burch's viral pierced heels. Then, they pushed the actress's skirt in a more "her" direction. "We made the accompanying skirt a mini skirt because it best showed off my legs on my 5’1” frame," she says. "I felt very chic and cool wearing the clothes."

Gentry thought about her Tory Burch moment as a package, one where her hair and makeup would work together to make her runway pieces pop even more. "Because the outfit was so structured and a statement on its own, to juxtapose the structure of the jacket we went with a soft textured updo with face framing pieces," she says. "Marty Harper, who does my hair, is so intuitive and talented and I always trust his thought process with all of my looks. I felt very Old Hollywood and glamorous with the hair and the bold lipstick Bo expertly applied with my makeup."

Gentry was just as excited to spend the afternoon getting ready as she was to see the collection come down the runway that evening. That adage about journeys being more meaningful that destinations applies to fashion week, too—at least when you're a star taking a 24-hour pause from working on your hit show.

"I love the transformation process. I’ve been so busy filming Season 3 of Ginny Georgia, and being able to trust my team to turn my tired look into something refreshing and sleek is always such a treat," Gentry says. "I feel like a brand new person every time I get the opportunity to go to a show."

More than the flashy setting (the top of Williamsburg's renovated Domino Sugar Factory, with sweeping views of the Manhattan skyline) or the stacked front row, Antonia Gentry's long-time affection for Tory Burch meant the collection itself was her favorite part of the experience. "I felt myself wanting to try on every look. The models looked beautiful, comfortable, and confident which is what I think matters most to me when exploring style."

The whole evening let Gentry be someone she hasn't gotten to in a minute: herself. While she's been filming her show's next season, she's been wearing almost entirely what she calls "comfort clothes." (Why dress up when you're immediately heading into character wardrobe on-set?)

"Going to New York Fashion Week," Gentry says, "it was nice to feel like myself again and be inspired by new styles and to be surrounded by people who love fashion and self expression." And, who love the designer she loved all along.