Lingua Franca toasts John Hardy Collab at Waverly Inn
On Thursday afternoon, the Waverly Inn opened for a rare lunch service to celebrate the Lingua Franca and John Hardy Collaboration for Mother's Day.
"This place nurtured me, literally and figuratively," said Rachelle Hruska MacPherson, founder of Lingua Franca. The brand's new townhouse headquarters is located a few blocks from the popular restaurant.
The new "Mother Franca Project" includes embroidered cashmere sweaters and a customizable John Hardy necklace, which features a sterling silver pendant that can be engraved with the initials of the wearer's loved ones. Inside the Waverly Inn, several Lingua Franca embroiderers were working on customizing cashmere sweaters for lunch guests, many of whom were already wearing the John Hardy collar.
Related Galleries"This collaboration is really about celebrating mothers and motherhood," MacPherson said over lunch, noting that she became acquainted with John Hardy's creative chairman, Reed Krakoff, while he worked as an assistant at Baron Capital Management, before founding GuestofaGuest.com and his fashion brand. "I finally got to meet [Krakoff] 15 years later, in the flesh, and he delivered," MacPherson added. "The thing about Reed is that he's so excited to create really fun products. It's fun to be around enthusiastic, passionate people."
Krakoff, who joined John Hardy in the fall of 2022 after four years as art director of Tiffany & Co., noted that he and his wife Delphine were longtime fans of the lingua franca and that the collaboration ultimately grew out of a friendship.
"I started doing new things with John Hardy, figured out how to reinvent this brand, and the idea of craftsmanship and personalization and the laid-back poolside attitude of both brands seemed to fit very well,” Krakoff said.
"John Hardy has an artisan community in Bali of around 400 artisans - and as you can See it, Rachelle even has artisans here today who embroider sweaters. So it seemed like there were a lot of similarities in our approach to design. Once we started talking, it really made sense,” he added, "Most importantly, it's been easy, fun and collaborative, like these things should be."
Matt Borkowski/BFA.com
On Thursday afternoon, the Waverly Inn opened for a rare lunch service to celebrate the Lingua Franca and John Hardy Collaboration for Mother's Day.
"This place nurtured me, literally and figuratively," said Rachelle Hruska MacPherson, founder of Lingua Franca. The brand's new townhouse headquarters is located a few blocks from the popular restaurant.
The new "Mother Franca Project" includes embroidered cashmere sweaters and a customizable John Hardy necklace, which features a sterling silver pendant that can be engraved with the initials of the wearer's loved ones. Inside the Waverly Inn, several Lingua Franca embroiderers were working on customizing cashmere sweaters for lunch guests, many of whom were already wearing the John Hardy collar.
Related Galleries"This collaboration is really about celebrating mothers and motherhood," MacPherson said over lunch, noting that she became acquainted with John Hardy's creative chairman, Reed Krakoff, while he worked as an assistant at Baron Capital Management, before founding GuestofaGuest.com and his fashion brand. "I finally got to meet [Krakoff] 15 years later, in the flesh, and he delivered," MacPherson added. "The thing about Reed is that he's so excited to create really fun products. It's fun to be around enthusiastic, passionate people."
Krakoff, who joined John Hardy in the fall of 2022 after four years as art director of Tiffany & Co., noted that he and his wife Delphine were longtime fans of the lingua franca and that the collaboration ultimately grew out of a friendship.
"I started doing new things with John Hardy, figured out how to reinvent this brand, and the idea of craftsmanship and personalization and the laid-back poolside attitude of both brands seemed to fit very well,” Krakoff said.
"John Hardy has an artisan community in Bali of around 400 artisans - and as you can See it, Rachelle even has artisans here today who embroider sweaters. So it seemed like there were a lot of similarities in our approach to design. Once we started talking, it really made sense,” he added, "Most importantly, it's been easy, fun and collaborative, like these things should be."
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