For an avid reader like Francesca Ruffini, one of the lockdown’s few silver linings was being able to indulge in books. One of her most cherished volumes is Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own. “During quarantine it acquired a whole new meaning,” she said. “It resonated profoundly, especially when Woolf says, ‘There’s no gate, no lock, no bolt that one can use to limit my mind’s freedom.” Even if Woolf was referring to the limitations of expression imposed on women in the nearly 100-year-old book, the statement felt particularly poignant to Ruffini in this moment. Being forced to spend time in physical isolation doesn’t mean that your spirit and imagination cannot travel, transcending restrictions and interdictions. Creativity often feeds on limitations.
“What I really wanted was to find solace, traveling with my mind to safer places that couldn’t be reached by sickness, pain, and worries,” continued the designer. “I longed for pure air; deep, clean waters; forests—for places of silence and beauty.” Easier said than done when even the most luxurious house feels like a cage. So instead Ruffini escaped to the imaginary landscapes she printed on her signature silk twill pajamas and robes. Her clients have certainly found themselves in the unexpected yet rather enviable position of being confinement-ready, equipped with the chicest loungewear options possible. Spending time around the house in a battered tracksuit? Thank you, but no.
Hot-air balloons, space shuttles, mermaids, dolphins, and flocks of pink flamingos all hinted at the desire to escape. They were printed on loose caftans in silk cotton and on sensual silk satin robes de chambre that can double as dresses or dusters, transitioning seamlessly from the bedroom to a WFH situation.
A line of elegant swimwear that can also be worn as lingerie was added to the offering, whose chromatic palette was gentle, “as if dusted by a powder puff,” as Ruffini described it. Her concern is providing women with the same feeling of comfort and freedom she craves for herself. “Freedom for me is being at ease with yourself,” she said.