Kate and Laura Mulleavy
I think I fall a little further in love with “twisted sisters” Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte with each interview I read. Their recent dialogue with the New Yorker served up some delectable sound bytes (and revulsion, but I’ll get to that later).
“The most unhappy Laura and I have ever been was when we heard that we made ‘a pretty dress.’ We want to make people think, and, once you decide to do that, you will have people that won’t like what you’re doing.”
Primarily self-taught, the Mulleavy sisters’ many varied inspirational touchstones invariably herald the proclamation, “Weird girls make good!” Their fall 2008 line was inspired by Japanese horror films and “the textiles were meant to look as though they were bleeding or ‘covering a seeping wound.’” Their first collection was funded by the sale of rare Velvet Underground and X LPs (um, pretty cool!). They take pleasure in burning sea foam green polyester just to smell the toxins and took their sweet time leaving the comfort of their parents’ suburban Pasadena nest. These ladies are at once bizarre, conjoined and cool as shit.
I’ve become increasingly enamored (and totally identify) with these ladies. However, there was a sour note to this celebration of doing it your own way, against all odds: the author’s constant mention of the Mulleavys’ (non-twig) weight and the fact that they “can’t wear their own designs.” This is compounded by the hoopla over Kate and Laura’s affinity for monochromatic sweatshirts, shapeless tunics and general “goober factor.” (What?!)
The assumption that designers must be sandwich boards for their work seems a shortsighted double standard that nary applies to the many male designers creating clothing for, um, women. Is this seriously an issue? Their designs are works of (wearable) art, but are they truly meant to be worn by anyone? I’d sooner hang one of their glorious blood-splattered knits on the wall then attempt to wear it while eating ribs. (This is my usual stress test for a new piece of clothing. Now you know.)
I’m sure you’ve also heard about Anna Wintour’s obsession with the sisters…and her subsequent mean girl treatment, masked as “dietary project.” I’m disappointed that Kate and Laura’s visionary nature and unorthodox approach to a rigid industry couldn’t be appreciated without the superficial aspects of weight. Gross.
In the meantime, I want to hang at their studio and catalogue the many varied colors of fume that result from fabric incineration. Keep it weird, Rodarte! I can’t wait to see what you’ll burn // embroider // envision next.
[Images via NY Mag]
this is why i was looking forward to your blog. i like the thought you put into discussing this. and i’m really not designer knowledgeable so you are introducing me to things i didn’t know i wanted to know about. tangent: are you familiar with andrea zittel and her uniform project?
I am familiar with the Uniform Project! It’s such an amazing idea, and I really love the idea of taking something simple and recurring and making it new with each day. (Kind of like “Groundhog Day”…weird aside, but that’s what it makes me think of!)
I hear you about the weight loss boot camp/expectations that the designers would wear their own product. They are designers, NOT models and no one wears shoes like that in real life! No one put Lagerfeld on a diet when he was heavier…
I was also a little troubled by the labelling of the recent Target/Rodarte diffusion line as “Juniors” which I couldn’t help thinking was a way to avoid making clothes in sizes that fit real grown up women. I am slim and could barely squeeze into the mediums. I don’t know anything about fashion marketing but were these clothes really aimed at a “juniors” market? Obviously this is an industry thing and not the Mulleavy’s fault- I think they’re brilliant and some one should probably make a film about them.
not a huge fan of the lace and shredded look – reminds me too much of the 90s. but i adore the gray color story and those to-the-crotch boots. i love that they’re self taught and that necklace. but will we ever know if the girls just wanted to be healthier or if it was Anna? it also seems ironic that they use the same pin thin models everyone else does. seems rampant regardless of the designer’s gender. while i admit that certain clothing may look better on certain figures, i can’t imagine anyone wanting to look like a bicycle wearing clothes
weird girls make good! of course i love it!
Excellent post! They are mesmerizing, odd, and challenging…and that is why the general public and the appearance-obsessed will never *quite* get what they do even if they purport to admire them on the surface. And how sad that all it still comes down to is the weight question.
I’m setting to read the rodarte ny’ker article now and happy find your thoughts here. I too love these sisters and find them so inspiring.
Less than inspiring Anna Wintour’s project. Depressing.
I’m also fascinated/disturbed by the double standard applied to them, and not to male designers. At the same time, as a fat person who cannot wear ANYTHING that looks remotely like what I’d like to wear (bespoke clothes are totally out of reach financially, and fat people clothes really do look like Roseanne’s wardrobe, which is totally uncool when that’s ALL you can wear), it is disappointing that Rodarte haven’t made a line that’s TRULY radical–that is, affordable, fashionable clothes for women of size. They might have done it with their Target line–that would have rocked–but they didn’t, as no one ever does. The only small, affordable designers making plus size clothes that are supposedly trendy are really inappropriate unless you’re some 16 year old or a really tacky dresser. I’m definitely not saying it is their purpose in life to do this, and I also know they won’t. I’m just saying that I really think the time is NOW (it’s actually been now for like 30 years) for real designers to make awesome and appropriate and affordable fat women’s clothes that look good. And by fat, I don’t mean size 14. I mean 28.
The story of Rodarte is near and dear to my heart. I love the fact that they are self taught, launched from their parent’s kitchen table and create such amazing wearable works of art. It is horrible and sad that some narrow-minded critic can look at two women who have created truly original fashion and criticize them for their physical appearance. Smacks of third-grade playground cruelty.
certainly exciting and energizing to know that some talent can squeak through without the industry ties that bind…. of course the double standard still remains…. when will it ever be eradicated? good for them!!– and who cares if the sisters wear sweatshirts and shapeless tunics– did picasso like women? no–but he certainly slept with enough of them– and painted them all the time! his paintings are still wall worthy!
[...] mentioned about how I feel about Kate and Laura Mulleavy of design house Rodarte before (um, they inspire me in every way possible), but this video of their runway show for Fall [...]