Lingua Franca Celebrates a Store Opening on Bleecker Street
Lingua Franca Celebrates a Store Opening on Bleecker Street
Last night, Lingua Franca—aka the knitwear brand that makes sweaters hand-stitched with slogans like “Give a Damn” and “I Miss Barack” and has become a throw-on-and-go uniform of sorts among nasty women and their allies, especially on the school run in New York—opened its first store on Bleecker Street in the West Village. Rachelle Hruska MacPherson, the designer behind the label, who also founded the media website Guest of a Guest with Cameron Winklevoss back in 2007, started making the sweaters in 2016 when her therapist suggested she do something with her hands to combat her anxiety. Her first was emblazoned with the word “Booyah.”
A few Instagram posts later, and Lingua Franca (which means “common language,” because the company’s OG products were sweaters with hip-hop lyrics) was born. She later expanded the line to capture the spirit of the post-presidential election resistance, and Connie Britton famously sported one on the red carpet at the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards. Since then, everyone from Candice Bergen and Meryl Streep to Tim McGraw and Reese Witherspoon has picked a slogan and worn it with pride, and today the brand is known for its sustainable sourcing, its employment of female sewers in New York City, charitable contributions (they’ve donated over $300,000 to date), and most of all, as an example of female entrepreneurship.
The scene at 382 Bleecker Street on Tuesday night (midterm election night no less) highlighted all of these company values as this small business toasted its success. New Orleans–based artist Ashley Longshore’s colorful double-sided portrait of Ruth Bader Ginsburg hangs in the storefront, presiding over the space and setting the tone perfectly. “Ashley is bold, real, unfiltered, and fun,” says Hruska MacPherson. “She not only draws inspiration from historically bad ass women on her canvases, but she herself is someone every woman can derive inspiration from. Her art starts conversations and is therefore so much in line with what we are trying to do here. We were thrilled to partner up with her this summer and have her paint some of our LF sayings on RBG and other bad ass women, and we are so happy to be extending that partnership to our Bleecker street store! All of her art is for sale in our store and adds some much needed levity and fun.”
Handmade pieces by Of Rare Origin (the whimsical jewelry brand by mom Leslie Tcheyan and daughters Octavia and Thea Giovannini-Torelli) is also for sale in display cases throughout the shop. “We are actually doing an exclusive launch of RBG inspired earrings in early December!” Hruska MacPherson reveals excitedly.
All in all, it was a well deserved celebration on an evening full of big wins for women, and Hruska’s feminist fight club and cadre of influencer friends showed up in full force to congratulate her. “I’m looking forward to bringing our highly active Instagram community into real life,” Hruska MackPerson explains. “But, I’m also looking forward to bringing real life activations back online to our Instagram. It’s almost spy vs. spy.” One thing’s for sure: We can’t wait to see what the future holds!
