20 hours ago
For Restless Sleepers Resort 2026 Collection
Francesca Ruffini appears to draw from an inexhaustible well of imagination, where flora and fauna reign as her perennial muses. Her designs blossom as miniature Edens rendered in silk or chiffon; inspirations culled from her travels add layers of exotic details.
But it's not only the natural world or distant horizons that spark Ruffini's creativity; she is also a devoted bibliophile with a taste for the uncanny. After revisiting the surreal world of Haruki Murakami, she set out to translate his off-kilter universe into her seasonal figurative extravaganzas. One of the outcomes was the rather absurdist scene of a curious little monkey perched on a tree, gazing pensively at a horizon scribbled with a quote by none other than Friedrich Nietzsche. The philosophical primate made its appearance across a blush-pink silk pajama, edged with chocolate-brown piping, and again, more boldly, on cyan-blue palazzo pants with a matching shirt.
Ramages of corals, flamboyant botanicals, and flamingos seemingly poised for takeoff flutter across long summer caftans and billowy blouses, casually tucked into fluid, drawstring trousers. For Ruffini, comfort isn't an afterthought, but rather a guiding principle, right alongside ease and versatility. Her impactful designs may turn heads, but they never tie hands: you move freely, as if dressed in a breeze. The prints themselves have grown more open and lighter. One featured half-sketched flowers tangled with geometric shapes, like a drawing caught mid-thought. 'A little chaos is liberating,' she quipped. Judging by the elegant unruliness of her patterns, she means it.
