Shopbop Giveaway

One of my most treasured items in my wardrobe is my Opening Ceremony swingcoat. It was a steal from one of the infamous lands end sales, and has served me so well throughout a couple of winters and more. I've worn it belted and loose, with a parka underneath and a scarf wrapped around, with boots and ballet flats, with long jersey skirts and cropped pants. It's the most blissful melange of colours that run the gamut from burgundy red to french navy via burnt orange and chocolate brown. It's like Autumn but distilled into coat form, which is, in a word, awesome. And it makes me so happy to wear it. Despite the fact it's not typically "minimal" or "classic" and it most certainly wouldn't fit into that kind of so frenchy so chic wardrobe that I want to have, I think that doesn't matter. Something I've realised recently is that I have to just stop worrying about what I'm supposed to wear or what I think I should wear and just wear the things that I love and make me happy.

So, in the spirit of making you happy, I am excited to say that the people at Shopbop have given me a $100 gift voucher to pass along to a reader of Capture the Castle. You could snag some Opening Ceremony goodness for yourself - like something from their various collaborations, think leopard print coolness from Chloe Sevigny for Opening Ceremony, or California Skater-Chic from Rodarte for Opening Ceremony. Don't forget the shoes either! Opening Ceremony Shoes are the coolest things on the block, all those lace up boots and platform heels are the perfect accesory to a downtown outfit. They remind me of wandering New York in the winter, having breakfast at the Breslin in the Ace Hotel and seeing all these impossibly hip girls walking in and out of the Opening Ceremony store there. There's something about a girl in a lace up boot.

Alright, enough of that. All you have to do is leave a comment here with a link to your favourite item on shopbop (so I can stalk your future purchases) and your email address (so I can contact you if you win!). For additional entries you can retweet or tweet about the giveaway - just be sure to @reply me (@hannahroserose) so I know you've done it, or follow me on bloglovin' (just comment so I know!). That's it. Have as many entries as you want and I'll randomise the lot in a week to get a winner. Off you go!

X


EDIT: CLOSED. DRAWING WINNER SHORTLY!

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beauty is terror

'Death is the mother of beauty,' said Henry.

'And what is beauty?'

'Terror.'

'Well said,' said Julian. 'Beauty is rarely soft or consolatory. Quite the contrary. Genuine beauty is always quite alarming.'

I looked at Camilla, her face bright in the sun, and thought of that line from the Iliad I love so much, about Pallas Athene and the terrible eyes shining.

'And if beauty is terror,' said Julian, 'then what is desire? We think we have many desires, but in fact we have only one. What is it?'

'To live,' said Camilla.

'To live forever,' said Bunny, chin cupped in palm.

The teakettle began to whistle.

Donna Tartt, The Secret History

This passage is quite possibly one of my most favourite passages from any book, ever. I'm no classics scholar (although i have dabbled with the idea of taking up ancient greek), but i think you don't need to be one to appreciate this sentiment. Beauty is terror. We desire to live, forever. Human nature distilled into a few sentences.

I remember posting this poem 'An evil spirit, your beauty haunts me still', with a picture of Lily Donaldson way back in the archives. I think she is possessing of the kind of beauty that haunts, that keeps you up at night, tossing and turning. But beauty that is terrifying, that alarms? What immediately springs to mind is the ferocious vision of the Rodarte girls. Their spring/summer collection was certainly fearsome to behold - futuristic and yet harking back to those ancient days of female warriors like Boudicca. With tattoos snaking up their arms and their dresses slashed and ripped, 'ruined' in the words of laura mulleavy herself, the rodarte girls were the remnants of a post-apocalyptic civilisation, scavenging for clothes in the wreckage of their world and trying to forge a new existence.

Beauty is terror, desire is to live forever... The Rodarte girl, with her rags and steely glare, the dry ice curling around her feet is a terrifying and alarming, yet overwhelmingly compelling beauty. Every season they send forth their particular brand of haunting, gothic romance, but this season was a departure from that. It was Beauty in its purest, crystallised form - frightening in its fury. So frightening that you cannot look away. I can't get enough of Rodarte, and neither can the rest of the fashion world.

X

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Magic Makers.

'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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