As trend has embraced a pared-down, how does a label unabashedly a fan of daring figurative imagery alter? Francesca Ruffini’s perspective is one in all sensible flexibility, attempting to navigate right this moment’s change of temper with out shedding her distinctive fashion. “I’ve all the time tried to make my voice rise above the noise of tendencies,” she stated.
This season she decreased her prints down to simply 4 choices, and in addition labored to loosen up her coloration chart. The luxurious foliages and tropical flora motifs she often favors have been traded for a subtler tackle patterns impressed by archival materials, primarily from the 18th century, that she sources in Como, her birthplace and a well-known hub for the perfect silk mills on the planet. Rummaging by way of scraps of brocades, jacquard velvets, cloqué silks, and handwoven lampas—a few of them so treasured they’re saved in strongboxes within the mills’ vaults—she got here up with a wide range of textured patterns she transferred in blown-up variations on the languid fabrications she likes.
Ruffini has an intensive library of uncommon books on the historical past of costume, on which she primarily based her analysis. “Nobody dares nowadays to reference the opulence of aristocratic courtroom dressing of the previous, as a result of the load of historical past can simply flip issues dusty and passé,” she stated. Capturing the lookbook towards a backdrop of stucco ceilings and ornate furnishings in a Milanese palazzo was a method of constructing “the restrained exuberance of the gathering look fashionable.”
Her beneficiant lounge-inspired silhouettes got barely extra shapely strains, with out detracting from consolation—an essential level for Ruffini, who tries all the pieces on herself earlier than beginning manufacturing. To present the gathering a broader attraction, patterns have been sparser, typically rising from a darkish background or in contrasting ivory/brown renditions. Some stable colours have been additionally launched, as in a masculine soft-tailored swimsuit with an identical sweeping coat in a luxurious, deep brown velvet jacquard. Steering clear from brights and saturated tones, Ruffini reverted to hues of azure and dusty pink to infuse a relaxing, female, and younger vibe to the supply—a swish different to the prevailing minimalistic decisions in right this moment’s shops.
