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Rodarte At Fashion’s New Frontier

Welcome to fashion’s new frontier, at least as seen by Rodarte, whose ephemeral fall 2010 collection was all about passing beauty.

Statuesque, though rather sad-eyed, beauties marched across the twisting runway in the Chelsea art gallery where the collection was unveiled Tuesday, Feb. 16, in New York.

These clothes had all usual stylistic DNA one associates with Rodarte, a Los Angeles-based fashion house, whose founders and creative directors are sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy. The two siblings love a mish-mash of fabrics, which this season included in a single outfit – shards of lace, scarf fabrics used as a cowl neck, tweed patches, lace layering, faded chiffon, fishnet, Victorian curtains and Anastasi pattern rugs.

“It was while driving across Texas that we got the idea of creating a collection inspired by border towns,” explained Kate post-show. Added sister Laura: “We wanted a sense of how life can be very transient, and full of transients.”

Though they are relatively little known outside the fashion world, Rodarte is one of the most sought after show tickets in fashion, so besides every powerful editor and critic in Manhattan for the season, this event also attracted Kirsten Dunst and Chloe Sevigny.

And one can easily understand why from this highly imaginative show, where the sampled chic of the fabric cocktails and fertility of these two designers’ imaginations impressed with every look.

It’s also true that the duo did break new ground, sending out quite a few jackets, multi-fabric boleros or strict bomber jackets. However, the collection, at least in terms of silhouette, recalled their previous shows, which was a pity, as we’d love to see the Mulleavy minds let loose more on cut and line.

That said, their finale was also the best so far of any New York show – a series of some ten models in ecru and white combinations bedecked in pearls and trimmed with fur that whispered warrior brides. And using black light then was a clever trick, turning various looks into new hues of orange.

Capturing the mood, the soundtrack was a deadbeat blues guitar, ideal for this collection where the evanescent imagery suggested exotic beauties crossing a border to some terribly exotic land where the social hierarchy would be calibrated by various levels of beauty. To boldly go where no fashionista has gone before.

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