Rodarte Spring 2011: New York Fashion Week

My gaping fascination with every Rodarte garment lies in its mind-blowing level of construction detail, from manipulated hand-dyed and knit techniques, to the complicated twisting of straps and multi-textured panels, all constructed from a deeply profound and fantastical dream world of inspiration.

Enter Kate and Laura Mulleavy's Spring outing for Rodarte and the first thing you'll say to yourself is "Where's the twisted cheesecloth?"
The collection has a real polished feel, with easier on the eye silhouettes, and visibly untouched whole fabric. I love the paneled gladiator dresses and the draped patterned fabrics. The Mulleavy sisters were inspired by their native California's redwood forests and porcelain as they explained to WWD, “We were looking at wood carvings and how they were coupled with porcelain...We imagined porcelain silhouettes..." Hmmm, I think I'm missing the flow of the blue and white porcelain vase dresses, but no matter let's get on with some of my favorite looks:















Images courtesy of WWD

Quicktake: RODARTE

Before I get on with it I first have to first mention that for years I thought this museum was called the 'Copper Hewitt.' Aaanyways The Cooper-Hewitt, New York's National Design Museum housed in the original Carnegie Mansion, is currently featuring Quicktake: Rodarte, an installation exhibit of the conceptual and artistic designs of fashion duo Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte. I've always had this crazy fascination with their design techniques and fabric manipulation, but to see these processes up close and in person was absolutely mind blowing. Some standouts included a grey hand-marbled leather jacket with straps and fastenings worn over a hand-knit and purled dress, a flesh-colored leather and cotton knit pleated skirt, and painstakingly hand-knit wool cobweb tights which most probably cost slightly more than a pair of HUE. To my utter disappointment taking photos wasn't allowed at the Cooper-Hewitt, which is why I made the extra effort not to get caught when I did. My espionage yielded some blurry results, but combined with a few still photos from the museum's website, here is most of the collection for your viewing pleasure...