On Thursday night, Rachelle Hruska MacPherson hosted a housewarming party for the new Lingua Franca townhouse in downtown New York. The cocktail party, which marked the kickoff of New York Fashion Week, was also a homecoming.
“This used to be my old home, I lived here and I raised my two boys here,” said MacPherson from the second floor. She was wearing a fringed sweater from the brand’s new collection, which was displayed on the first floor of the townhouse. “We’ve been renting it the last few years and I was like, I really want to go back to that space. It felt perfect for Lingua Franca to be in a place like this.
“One of the things we really always need is a place to host and have the showroom and do dinners,” she added. “It feels so full circle and I’m so happy. You can go in the bathroom; there’s still the height chart with my sons’ heights.”
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Longtime friends and collaborators of the brand stopped by to check out the new headquarters, including Maye Musk, Athena Calderone, Lauren Bush and David Lauren, Jill Kargman, Huma Abedin, Zanna Roberts Rassi, Shari Siadat, Elijah Daunte, Waris Ahluwalia, and Batsheva Hay. “I never leave my house — this week I am,” joked Kargman, as she made her way up to the second floor.
Unsurprisingly, many were dressed in Lingua Franca’s signature embroidered sweaters.
“Rachelle’s a friend of mine. When my book came out, ‘A Woman Makes a Plan,’ she had it embroidered and then she gave me a sweater with that on it. And then my daughter saw it, and so my daughter just took it — that’s what daughters do,” said Musk, who instead donned a sweater emblazoned with “yes si oui ja.”
The cheerful model was gearing up for a busy week ahead; later that night she was headed to a party for Viktor & Rolf. “It’s even been busy for the past three days pre-fashion week,” added Musk, who turns 75 in April. “Every day I’ve got something. It’s quite an event, each one. But that’s the fashion business — that’s why I’m still working.”