Sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy, creative directors of Rodarte, are known for conjuring dreamlike designs that are frequently inspired by the world of film. Set to take their love of the silver screen to the next level with a directorial debut, we explore just how film and fashion collide for the women behind one of the industry’s most innovative labels.
By Natalie Trevis
The Star Wars inspired AW14 collection by Rodarte. Image courtesy of Gorunway.
Film has long been a source of nostalgia and inspiration for Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte – echoing in otherworldly designs that take us from the Great Plains os Texas at the turn of the century, courtesy of Terence Malick’s Days of Heaven, to the epic sci-fi universe of Star Wars. Now it seems the sisters will immerse themselves at the source by directing a film entitled Woodshock. The feature is based on a script the Mulleavys have been developing for a number of years and is reported to star long term friend and collaborator, Kirsten Dunst. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film will be financed and produced by Ken Kao’s Waypoint Entertainment (in Cannes this week with the in-competition film Sea of Trees) and US theatrical rights have already been purchased confidently by A24 (responsible for the distribution of current box office hit Ex Machina). With a no-limits attitude towards the design of their whimsical story-led creations for Rodarte, we can expect Woodshock to deliver unselfconscious visual couture for the big screen.
Rodarte’s collaboration with costume designer Amy Westcott on Black Swan (2010) produced one of the seminal movie costume designs of recent years – Natalie Portman’s haunted black swan in a Swan Lake production that takes a dark turn. The designers’ AW08 collection having been inspired by ballerinas and horror films – a genre to which the Mulleavy sisters consistently return – it seemed a natural step for them to work on the costumes for the leads in the Swan Lake scenes (as well as some of the practice costumes and a gown for Portman), lending their signature crafty intricacy to the ballerinas’ tutus. All layered, of course, with a touch of dishevelment that is classic Rodarte. The friendship between Rodarte and Natalie Portman has endured ever since. Portman has worn the label on the red carpet many times, most fittingly at the Oscars in 2011 when she won the Best Actress award for her role in Black Swan. Only this week Portman turned once again to Rodarte, wearing a sheer embroidered AW15 dress for the photocall of her own directorial debut A Tale of Love and Darkness at the Cannes International Film Festival.
Working with theatrical costumes – Rodarte also designed the lavishly operatic costumes for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s 2012 production of Don Giovanni, collaborating with architect Frank Gehry and conductor Gustavo Dudamel in the process – spilled over into Rodarte’s SS13 collection. One of the designers’ most fantastical collections to date, it was inspired by medieval and fantasy-role playing games that manifested in details such as metal chain belts, leather fringing and notes of body armour. In true original style, the sisters celebrated the collection in a 12-minute film, This Must Be the Only Fantasy, directed by Todd Cole (their third collaboration with the director) and starring Elijah Wood, in which the gaming magic of a group of 1980s teens crosses over into the real world.
Terence Malick’s 1978 masterpiece, Days Of Heaven, inspired Rodarte to examine the Great Plains in the AW11 collection. Tones of wheat and heather, quilting, pinafores and prairie coats made for a romantic modern version of a bygone America. Ruby red gowns stood out in stark contrast – the sisters’ inspiration had taken them down the yellow brick road. ‘We couldn’t go to Nebraska and Kansas and not do a Wizard of Oz reference,’ Kate explained. And perhaps that triggered a nostalgic thought process, as the following SS12 collection grew from the kitschy colour palette of Disney’s 1959 animated classic, Sleeping Beauty.
The Mulleavys are endlessly fascinated with horror films, citing Halloween (1978), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and Blood Feast (1963) among their favourites. Japanese horror films inspired much of the sisters’ early work. Teen vampire flick, Joel Schumacker’s The Lost Boys (1987), influenced a Rodarte collection for AW13 that, like the film, captures the experience of growing up near the Santa Cruz boardwalk in California. ‘The interaction of skate, surf, poets, hardcore kids, hippies, new-agers: there isn’t another place like it,’ Kate told The Cut. ‘I think my true obsession with fashion comes from growing up there because I have such visceral memories of the way people dressed.’
AW14 saw Rodarte take on grown up silhouettes and subvert them with sparkle, childlike smocking and embroidered knit, the unexpected finale unfolding in a series of chiffon gowns emblazoned with the faces of the beloved Star Wars icons Luke Skywalker, Yoda, R2-D2, C-3PO and the Death Star. Kirsten Dunst wore the latter to the Met Gala in 2014 and was the perfect representation of the quirky yet cerebral style the label embodies (as well as making the dreams of more than a few Star Wars fans come true). ‘They are the only films that we can never remember not having seen and in many ways, they seem to have become a part of who we are,’ the sisters noted. ‘In a broader sense, they have melded with the collective conscious of our cultural DNA.’ Film and fashion endlessly intertwine for Kate and Laura Mulleavy and as Woodshock takes shape we’re ready for a deeper look at just how these esoteric creatives will reflect that cultural DNA right back at us.
