'I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful—a faery’s child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.
I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She look’d at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan.'
La Belle Dame Sans Merci, John Keats.
There is something poetic about the clothes that Laura and Kate Mulleavy create for Rodarte.
Vicious, wild, terrifying poetry it may be, but poetry it is nonetheless.
They first erupted onto the scene in 2005 in a dark cloud of unbelievably well made dresses (think whisps of chiffon piled on a thousand times over and intricate details that were impossibly delicate) all housed in a cardboard box. Since then the Mulleavy sisters have shown themselves to be an incredible fashion force. More important than their meetings with Anna Wintour, though i am by no means diminishing the importance of such an accolade, they are that most rare of beasts: ready to wear designers whose clothes have the finish and feel, and more importantly, the transformative power, of couture.
Their special brand of romance seemed whipped up and pulled fully formed from the mythical tales of norse sagas or the ancient greek legends in which good and evil both grappled with magic and where beauty was terror. Where to be in love was to be consumed and where a girl could be both wonderful and horrible all at the same time. Light and airy dresses in the palest of pastel colours tempered by lashings of dark lipstick and some of the most savage shoes ever created. The collaboration with Nicholas Kirkwood won them the appreciation of anyone left in the fashpack yet to be enamoured of them, and the spiky, studded, bondage shoes of the most intense kind wound their way on the feet of any editor and stylist worth their money in fashion weeks to come.
But aside from fickle 'trends' and 'it-factor', Rodarte is an incredibly intriguing brand, stemming primarily from the fact that both Kate and Laura had no formal fashion training. Unbelievable, no? especially when you consider the amount of exquisite workmanship that has gone into the clothes, and i really mean exquisite, up close these garments seem, trite as it may be, woven from silk threads by dedicated fairy weavers themselves. Fairies they may not be, but dedicated they are, devoted to the label, and to bringing to life the magical designs they have in their heads, whether it be spiders web knits, harlequin cut tights, dresses that are boned, appliqued, beaded and embellished to within an inch of their life, and yet move as if they were made from essence of cloud. The mind boggles, and squeals, all at the same time .
And i was surprised to find that they had released an advertisement. And not only had they released one, but that it had escaped the notice of the fashion world until quite recently. Most thought that the image showcasing the SS 09 clothes was the first, but fashionista noted that an advertisement with Karen Elson from AW 08 ran in magazines last year, and thus makes it the first... Who knows?
The more important thing, i think, is why on earth Rodarte released an ad in the first place. I feel the clothes that they make are both beyond commercial justification, and are above it too. Yes, a design house needs to make money, but with the cult celebrity following, magazine showcasing and the fact that Rodarte is, ultimately the brainchild and labour of love of the two sisters, i feel their costs may be covered. And even then, what purpose does the advertisement serve, running in small circulation in selected publications reaching an audience who, lets face it, probably already adore and worship the ground the Mulleavy sisters walk on? The advertisement from being on the cover of Vogue US, or the cover of WWD, or being the most talked about show each runway season, is enough, in my opinion.
Their pieces are expensive. I've seen them in person, and the price tags are Balmain-esque. But, like Balmain in a way, although i think the Mulleavy sisters take it to the next level. I mean, i don't have the kind of budget to afford, even on sale, anything by Rodarte. But in a fantasy world, like the one that the Mulleavy sisters weave into the threads of their garments, i would quite happily drop the money necessary because i am aware of the buckets of effort poured into each item of clothing. And so i don't think, unlike other design houses who rely on dragging in customers with glossy, high maintenance advertisements, Rodarte really needs advertisements.
The garments themselves are advertisement enough.
[fashionista]
Although, if they had to use an advertisement, i think this one with Karen Elson is just... unbelievable. To me it's like some kind of good witch swanning around in her spider's web gossamer gowns, conjuring the red, blood red, paint bubbles around her. Or perhaps it's not fantasy at all, it's a society girl, swathed out wool so fine it resembles hair, dancing in her apartment to gotye in front of her pollock-esque work of art. Karen Elson is regal, and the Rodarte clothes are magical. She looks like La Belle Dame Sans Merci, and though we can't see her eyes, don't you think they would be wild and unruly and yet wholly beautiful, just like a rodarte gown? Don't you think she would thick men's blood with cold while sending them burning with heat all at the same time? Blood red splattered on the wall behind her, red like blood and hearts and love... A match made in heaven, n'est pas?
Oh what a tangled web they weave.
X
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