Rodarte SPRING 2021 READY-TO-WEAR
When Kate and Laura Mulleavy started Rodarte in 2005, it was their furious imagination that kept them inside day and night, hand-sewing floral dresses while watching films. Fifteen years later, the dual crises of a global health pandemic and raging wildfires forced the sisters back into that state: at home, together, with only their creativity to occupy them. While their spring 2021 collection was borne from the same cloistered Californian sisterhood of their earliest outings, the final products couldn’t be more visually different. Call spring 2021 a more practical magic.
It’s not so much that the tulle explosions or the cake topper confections have dulled; in the face of such tough times, the sisters are emphasizing the importance of making fashion for this fractured world. “Everything we do is about fantasy and dreams, but we are located in a moment, and we are a part of what is happening now,” said Kate. A fanciful gown, both designers agree, has little place in today’s world, so instead they channeled their efforts into clothing they would want to wear now “without distilling the ideas.” What they’ve gained from a decade and a half in business is a firm understanding of their brand codes: florals, veils, just slightly off sweetness.
With this collection, they have proven their ability to make inherently useful garments that don’t compromise on the Rodarte DNA. Pajama sets, slips, and robes appear in dainty and orderly floral prints inspired by their local gardens. The floral story continues in the ’40s dresses they played with last season, now relaxed in shape with prints that radiate from the navel or appear in handkerchief-like grids. Silk sweatshirts, trackpants, and midi-skirts continue the motif, trimmed in lace or ruffles. Twill trousers in pastel shades of blue and pink are the rare unprinted items (the pockets are heart-shaped and the buttons are crystal).
All this is topped off with silk floral wreaths that frame models’ faces, giving them the impression of fairies, nymphs, or other magical woodland sprites. But seeing them alight in the California hills, photographed for the look book on late summer’s few habitable days between a heatwave and a fire, gives their whimsical frocks, bobby socks, and lace Church gloves a haunting undertone. As masterful image makers, the Mulleavey can embed many visual messages into a single moment. The sisters spoke of this collection being “a centering of thought,” and with a simple beauty painted against the devastation of our times, they managed to create a potent fantasy: one where we get through this without losing our sense of wonder.
See every single look from Rodarte SPRING 2021 READY-TO-WEAR Collection in the gallery, below :
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source: Vogue
