The Burch Trial Judge Asks the Big Questions: 'Are the Burches WASPs? Do We Know?'

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

All the back-and-forth with legal jargon over a period of months can make even the juiciest of lawsuits like Chris Burch vs. Tory Burch tiresome. So although you might be experiencing so. much. Burch trial fatigue, we'd like to introduce you to Judge Leo Strine, who will be presiding over the case.

Speaking at a scheduling conference in Delaware, he reminded us what's really important here: "Duck shoes are ugly" (and other thoughts on preppy clothing). This edition of "Deep thoughts by Judge Leo" is sponsored by WASPs and WWD:

On why him for this case: "I don't know why—I guess I did this to myself, but somebody in the room started the other tradition of giving—where, for some reason, I get all the preppy clothier cases, because I've had J. Crew. I've had—I think because I'm culturally steeped in it since I was nine years old and learned what was hard for a kid from Baltimore, duck shoes? What's a duck shoe? You know, and then you see all these freaks wearing this really ugly—I like L.L. Bean, but those duck shoes are ugly. I mean, there's no way around it. So I think for both sides, it might come as news, you know, there's really nothing all that new about bright clothing and all that kind of stuff. So the novelty of any of this may be something that I have to discover for myself, although I do think the juxtaposition of Two Fat Guys and Talbots in Greenville is just a beautiful thing."

On beginning to understand WASPs and the tradition of prep: "Real WASPs actually don't go and pay full Polo price. They don't pay full Polo price at Macy's. No way. They actually will find a bargain. That's how they got to be, you know, WASPs. When Tory Burch became popular, no one said, 'Oh, my gosh, this is the newest thing that ever happened.'"

On how to get in the mood for a "drunken WASP fest": "I think if you read Cheever, go see the new Virginia Woolf revival and watch 'Mad Men.' We'll be all geared up and in the mood for this sort of drunken WASP fest. Are they WASPs? Are the Burches WASPs? Do we know?"

No, Judge. Tory Burch is Jewish, Chris is "not-Jewish": "OK. But not Jewish doesn't make you a WASP because it could make you an equally excluded faith like Catholic, right? I mean, that's not a WASP. You know, a WASP is a WASP. So you know — I think you're going to have to have interrogatories about who's a WASP. And I'll certainly be attacked as anti-WASP, probably, and then I love all WASPs."
· The Burch Trial: 'A Drunken WASP Fest' [WWD]
· Tory Burch Officially Denies Chris Burch's Allegations: He 'Only Has Himself to Blame' [Racked]
· DVF, Anna Wintour Voice Their Support for Tory Burch [Racked]