Rodarte

No contemporary American designer ornaments garments as beautifully or as artfully as the sister duo known as Rodarte. Beloved by the fashion industry, Rodarte is in equal measure respected by curators, because they have bridged the difficult gap between innovative craftsmanship and commercial appeal. What makes their work so distinct is that they approach dressmaking from an aesthetic as well as a technical viewpoint. Furthermore, despite their youth (Kate was born in 1979 and Laura in 1980), they are highly sophisticated and understand even without professional training how to both craft and ornament a garment.

Kate and Laura Mulleavy began hand-crafting garments in 2005, shortly after earning liberal arts degrees in art history and literature, respectively, at the University of California at Berkeley. Every piece from their debut and early collections was made by the two sisters at the kitchen table of their parents’ home in Pasadena. Despite such quaint beginnings, the duo was immediately thrust into the international spotlight when major publications, such as Vogue, began to feature their work in editorial spreads. Among the prizes and honors conferred upon the sisters is the CFDA Women’s Wear Designers of the year in June of 2009.

Rodarte’s earliest designs illustrate their remarkable ability to handle delicate fabrics like chiffon and organza. These garments also denote their sources of inspiration, such as Gainsborough portraits and the lush rose gardens of the Huntington Museum near their home in Southern California: these ravishing confections are festooned with oversized cabbage roses and wisps of feathers and beads. The sweetness implicit in the Rodarte oeuvre is often tempered with more ominous sources of inspiration—modern Japanese horror films, for example. Arresting objects, such as gowns covered in layers of hand-dyed silk netting that were made to look like rivers of blood, exemplify Rodarte’s perfect blend of aesthetics (the gruesome made beautiful) and innovation (craftsmanship elevated to art).

According to fashion journalist Laird Borelli-Persson, “the self-taught designers [Rodarte] are obsessed with how clothes are made—stitch by stitch, bead by bead. They'll study Chanel couture to learn a technique, painstakingly hand-stitch a dress, chase down rhinestones from the twenties… whatever it takes to realize their vision.”