Rodarte fall 2018
Kate and Laura Mulleavy didn’t stage an elaborate show to display the fall 2018 Rodarte collection. Instead, the designing sisters showcased the clothes via a photo album starring a few of their pals (and loyal clients). Shot by famed photographer Autumn de Wilde, the cast of famous faces were clad in a collection that riffed on last season’s study on baby’s breath. Instead of focusing in on one specific bloom, however, the fall outing was took on a wider breadth, showcasing a veritable bouquet of florals all over Rodarte’s signature show-stopping gowns.
Rodarte fall 2018
“They’re portraits of our friends. We’ve had relationships with some of them for so long, we wanted it to be more, like, character studies,” Kate Mulleavy told Vogue.
Old-school Hollywood glam came through in the album’s backdrop, which harkened back to the Technicolor glory of old films. It was a fitting set for the actors (including a pregnant Kirsten Dunst) and musicians, which modeled the heavily embroidered, layered, lacy frocks.
Longtime fans will recognize the spiderweb lace, the gauzy overlayers, and botanical embellishments from past seasons. It was more refined this time, without sacrificing the drama or the historical references that mark the Mulleavys’ hand.
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Rodarte fall 2018
By bucking the traditional fashion calendar entirely, Rodarte has managed to keep its laser focus, which came to the forefront when fans both young and established donned floor-length dresses. Removed not only from the toiling schedule, but also the fashion world at large by designing in Los Angeles and showing in Paris, each season allows the sisters to go full-out. By bringing back old signatures, like chola-inflected silhouettes from the one past season and mixing them with florals from more recent ones, there’s a sense of continuity, not a start-from-scratch ethos that rules so many other brands.
Their unique position has allowed the sisters to grow an international clientele without swaying to whims of retailers and the in-crowd. By doing their own thing, they’ve grown Rodarte from an under-the-radar brand to one of the most artisinal, original labels out there. If everyone took a page from the Mulleavys, fashion could get a bit of its fun back.
For more information, visit www.rodarte.net.
Images courtesy Rodarte
