Last night, editors, buyers, It girls, and entrepreneurs gathered in the West Village home of Guest of a Guest’s Rachelle Hruska MacPherson to celebrate the launch of her embroidered sweater line, Lingua Franca, on Net-a-Porter. Hruska MacPherson’s retro Moroccan-Americana-English countryside–styled living space was filled with friends and a beautiful arrangement of food, and she admitted that in the preceding days she had thought about canceling the party. “After this election, it’s like how do you even make a difference,” Hruska MacPherson said. “And I don’t know! But I made this Love Trumps Hate sweater for tonight” (Hruska MacPherson gestured toward a sample displayed on a leather rhinoceros). “It’s what gets me up today.” It also seems to be what got Jessica Joffe, Athena Calderone, and Danielle Snyder up—each was sporting a Lingua Franca sweater styled over skirts, under pussy bows, or beneath fleecy leather jackets. Others were wearing their custom pieces collected from the early days of Hruska MacPherson’s line (one, sporting the word Solidarity, felt particularly poignant).
Lingua Franca (which, appropriately, means common language) came about less than a year ago as a stress-relief project for Hruska MacPherson, whose therapist recommended she find something to do with her hands. Sixty sweaters for friends later, Hruska MacPherson enlisted an assistant to help her with orders. But things really took off when Sarah Rutson, vice president of global buying for Net-a-Porter, spotted a sweater on Instagram. “The first order was for 1,000 and it’s almost completely sold out,” said Hruska MacPherson. The NAP line features extra-soft cashmere sweaters in navy, camel, and heather gray embroidered with phrases like All night long and It was all a dream. Each piece is sewn entirely by hand and includes an internal tag that will let you know which of Hruska MacPherson’s team of 30-odd sewers lent her skills to which cheeky phrase. She feels strongly that customers know at least a little bit about where their piece has come from and who has worked hard to create it. And after all that has occurred in the world this week, Hruska MacPherson feels even more passionately about infusing her brand with humanity. “I have to use what I have to get my message out there,” said the Internet entrepreneur turned accidental designer. “This feels good.”