PHILANTHROPY

"I feel incredibly honored to get this award," says designer and Main Line native Tory Burch, about her guest-of-honor selection at the Breast Health Institute and Fashion Group International's annual Give the Shirt Off Your Back! Fight Breast Cancer fundraiser. "It's truly an amazing organization I'm proud to be a part of." Thanks, Burch — that tells me nothing. But maybe Burch shouldn't speak. Maybe the suburban socialite who comes from the rarified air that made The Philadelphia Story so rich and dry is better off just doing. Moving from socialite to stylist and then into the tactile world of actual design found Burch getting slammed by the fashion press more times than Bush's Social Security plans. Starting with a shop in NYC's NoLita district, Burch has forged her own vision of luxe, one that jumps from pavement to penthouse with ethno-shabby bits from the 1960s and '70s and a lean American look that'd make Lauren ralph. Despite having an eye for match-and-mix texture, material and tone, it's the grand traditions of sleek chicsters Babe Paley and Slim Keith that make Burch's TRB line essential for any woman. So what's the connection to breast cancer? There is none. Not really, anyway. Burch has lent her name to the cause to generate awareness and national recognition. Bravo, already.

Give the Shirt Off Your Back Gala honoring Tory Burch, Fri., Oct. 28, 7-9 p.m., $350, Hyatt Regency at Penn's Landing, 201 S. Columbus Blvd., 215-732-2300, www.breasthealthinstitute.org.