I swear to the goddesses I will one day return to the subject of the Rodarte book and the couture-level RTW atelier the Mulleavy sisters run essentially as a fine arts practice. In the meantime, there’s actual couture – or ready-to-wear, I can never be sure, chez Rodarte – to talk about.
I mentioned the architectural emphasis, especially with respect to outerwear a couple of days ago that we saw in a number of collections, and Rodarte was one of them. On the other hand, if the coats, jackets and winter suitings (or dresses – mostly in black or black-and-tan leather) offered a consistent architectural strength and solidity, the other looks – from more casual day outfits to evening dresses – were all over the map; and couture specifications aside, all over the demographic spectrum, too. Cathy Horyn made a comment in her Times review of the collection that referenced both the ‘all-over-the-map’ quality and the range of pieces that might easily be worn in any age bracket. Comforting I suppose – but would you? Although I liked all the coats Cathy liked, I wasn’t so sure, for example, about the dress worn with that pumpkin-&-cream stripe coat she mentioned. Some ensembles were more awkward than others (e.g., the belted jackets worked somewhat better than the belted sweaters). Some of the color combinations seemed deliberately dulled; and boxy skirt-and-sweater/blouse ensembles looked almost drab. The coats and jackets – both the beautifully structured cloth coats in patterned panels, and those in leather and shearling, which had a wonderfully rusticated effect – were outstanding. The architectural strength of the coats was carried forward into the dresses, one of which was also in shearling – artfully structured out of intersecting squares and rectangles, with broader stripes of wool superimposed over the black leather and framing the neckline.
There were one or two boxy silhouettes in the Narciso Rodriguez collection, but by and large the thirty-plus looks in the collection all came from the same place – planet Elegance. The Bill Cunningham photographs I posted from the Times the other day actually give a better sense of the off-the-body tailoring and sculptural volumes of the coats than most of the other photography I’ve seen on-line. Construction – or perhaps more specifically, constructivism – was at the heart of the collection, with planes, conic sections, and fractals pieced together in variously layered or interlocked panels, drapery, and insets. The collection might have offered a textbook lesson in how to assemble multi-toned, multi-textured fabrics or layers into a coherent garment or ensemble. To call the collection “Minimalist” in any sense would be misleading. There’s a true sophistication here well beyond the ken of most Minimalists. (Robert Morris and Frank Stella might be exceptions to this – and frankly I think they’d be almost as enthusiastic about these clothes as I am.) Even the more simply cut pieces – say, a garnet jacket (almost a waistcoat) – pulled together with an asymmetric amber silk tunic, and tapering charcoal and black patchwork pants, was perfect casual elegance.
Working with a classic autumnal palette of blacks, slate-grays, and fall and jewel colors – orange, red-orange, pumpkin and deep reds or purples (with the exception of a variously pea- or acid-green) – Rodriguez built on the interplay of color, shape, texture, matte and shiny surfaces to draw us in and spin us around, all without losing the coherence and strength of the silhouette. It’s hard to pick out my favorite looks from the collection – there were so many. But consider, for example, the austere black jacket paired with a ruby red skirt, slashed with black, and swept into a train, worn with a lozenge-patterned tunic or bodice in sheer lacquered silk, with opaque black insets and fanned at the neckline. Or a slightly longer jacket in plum, worn with a black tunic with white ‘bird’-fractal print, and a slashed skirt in charcoal and ecru. I could go on (as you know). But I think I can let the gallery speak for me – have a look at it.
I’ll try to make it to London tomorrow. I think we have a date with Stella McCartney.
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