Elegy for Francesca

Category: Apparel

This piece was inspired by Inferno Canto V, specifically Francesca da Rimini. I explored Dante’s Divine Comedy in my final major project and wanted to use the Real Leather. Stay Different. competition as an opportunity to revisit his world from a new perspective. Francesca is punished for love and trapped in the endless storm in the second circle of Hell, but when she speaks to Dante, it is with sorrow, grace, and emotional weight. I wanted to translate the tension between beauty, grief, and power into a wearable garment. Visually, I drew inspiration from the Gothic architecture of Dante’s time. Pointed arches, cathedrals, and stained glass windows were designed to evoke reverence and awe. These forms carry both the beauty of divine love and the heaviness of judgment, which are core themes in the Divine Comedy. I brought that into the construction through traditional leatherwork techniques and crochet, which cannot be replicated by machines. They ground the garment in craft and humanity, while still offering potential for adaptation in commercial production through techniques like stitched or braided leather trim and knitting. The silhouette nods to medieval dress but reimagines it through a modern lens. Exaggerated sleeves, a sculpted bodice, and structured trousers transform the idea of a gown into a jumpsuit. Though far from historically accurate, this design responds to my background in costume design and my desire to reframe Francesca not as a passive figure caught in a storm, but as someone still and sovereign being. This garment lets her stand on her own, sharp, strong, and unapologetically present.