Rodarte F/W 09.10 New York

[dior_couture1245]

^^Thank you for posting that.

I've done some thinking...while I really do like this collection, I think it is time for Laura and Kate to move on from this apocalyptic stage. I know, I know...you all probably think I'm a hypocrite because I've been defending them so passionately in previous posts, but what I'm realizing my problem with this collection is that I wanted this it to develop something totally new for them. The trilogy was fantastic, wonderful and so memorable. Up until this point, I feel as though they truly have been moving onward and upward. While I certainly don't consider this collection a step down, I do think it was more of a plateau.

I love Rodarte, and their progression from their first SS 06 collection up to this point is both radical and, yet somehow, rather natural. I don't expect to, or even care to see them take huge steps upward from one season to the next (I like it when they play with their ideas over the course of a season or two), but I do want them to at least move around a little bit.

 

[irulan]

Cathy Horyn is only human. I don't agree with her at any of her points.
What frustrates me is all those double standards people are applying to young designers, especially the Mulleavys.
Everybody applaudes radicalism when it's done by a big name. Breaking all the rules of fashion, ladida, how ground-breaking.
But no, the Mulleavys must stick to the rules, have to construct a sleeve.
To claim that their clothing is emotionless is downright ridiculous.

 

[rip_ian curtis]

nice, but the actual collection we will see in stores. they can't sell only dresses.

 

[dior_couture1245]

Cathy Horyn is only human. I don't agree with her at any of her points.
What frustrates me is all those double standards people are applying to young designers, especially the Mulleavys.
Everybody applaudes radicalism when it's done by a big name. Breaking all the rules of fashion, ladida, how ground-breaking.
But no, the Mulleavys must stick to the rules, have to construct a sleeve.
To claim that their clothing is emotionless is downright ridiculous.

I do agree that some of her comments were really harsh...epsecially the last sentence.

Indeed you wonder if they are bored or intimidated by the actual mechanics of design — cutting, setting a sleeve — and that what their clothes express isn’t technical virtuosity but inarticulateness.

I usually agree with Cathy, but not so much with this review...

 

[Scott]

i completely agree irulan....i was so shocked to read that about the emotion factor....i think they carry immense emotion in their work as a whole and in this collection. i mean the moody combinations of material,textures....they must have been getting that from somewhere.

 

[Caffeine]

"Indeed you wonder if they are bored or intimidated by the actual mechanics of design — cutting, setting a sleeve — and that what their clothes express isn’t technical virtuosity but inarticulateness." - extremely well said. If they make this kind of clothes for one season, that's one thing. Making clothes without any change on the structure or even the silhouette is another. I'm bored and even a little annoyed.

 

[fashionista-ta]

i completely agree irulan....i was so shocked to read that about the emotion factor....i think they carry immense emotion in their work as a whole and in this collection. i mean the moody combinations of material,textures....they must have been getting that from somewhere.

It's interesting that she never considers the possibility that others are right and that she simply isn't connecting with the emotion ...

 

[fashionista-ta]

^if it ain't broke don't fix it,indeed. but i disagree this isn't fresh though. to me this show is proving a more evolved direction for them. of course they haven't lost that esoteric spirit in the previous collections but i think they're really refining the knitting skills here and utilising more materials in their textiles. and the silhouette somehow looks stronger as well.

Yes, the knits are by far my favorite part. I'd love to have a skirt ...

 

[Gainsbourg]

The pieces look so crazy and futuristic in a good way I like it

 

[Scott]

It's interesting that she never considers the possibility that others are right and that she simply isn't connecting with the emotion ...

i know. i usually adore cathy's writing and i tend to agree with her for the most part. but that is by far the most outlandish thing i've seen her write....ever.

and the equation she made with robots....all i can say to that is...even cylons can have feelings

 

[KirstyElissa]

why the same silhouette throughout the collection?
Those boots are horrendous, they look like beige masking tape is wrapped around the leg.

 

[Melisande]

It’s baffling to hear people say that the Rodarte clothes are full of emotion when in fact they are emotionless. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Over the last 30 years a number of designers have tried to evoke a cold, mechanistic world — few more eloquently than Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons and Martin Margiela. More recently Nicolas Ghesquiere of Balenciaga has used materials to suggest robots.

All those scarred fabrics are essentially ornament; the underlying shapes don’t change much, and they’re not interesting. Indeed you wonder if they are bored or intimidated by the actual mechanics of design — cutting, setting a sleeve — and that what their clothes express isn’t technical virtuosity but inarticulateness.

nytimes.com

This is just bad writing and logic. She throws out such random, subjective statements "emotionless" and "not interesting" with nothing to support her claims whatsoever. She never explains why "underlying shapes" must change and why ornament is bad in the first place. There are an infinite number of ways to create beautiful wearable art. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I never heard the Mulleavy sisters make any claims to their technical virtuosity anyway. I hate when people do this.

Gaah, feeling very anti-establishment today, so glad this is not politics for once!

 

[Scott]

^never. in fact they continue to re-iterate how much they learn as they go and how much they study different techniques.

 

[dior_couture1245]

I've done some thinking...while I really do like this collection, I think it is time for Laura and Kate to move on from this apocalyptic stage. I know, I know...you all probably think I'm a hypocrite because I've been defending them so passionately in previous posts, but what I'm realizing my problem with this collection is that I wanted this it to develop something totally new for them. The trilogy was fantastic, wonderful and so memorable. Up until this point, I feel as though they truly have been moving onward and upward. While I certainly don't consider this collection a step down, I do think it was more of a plateau.

I love Rodarte, and their progression from their first SS 06 collection up to this point is both radical and, yet somehow, rather natural. I don't expect to, or even care to see them take huge steps upward from one season to the next (I like it when they play with their ideas over the course of a season or two), but I do want them to at least move around a little bit.

I don't think I did the best job expressing myself in that last post. Basically, what I meant to say, in a nutshell, is that I want to see them move on not because of frustration, but because of excitement.

 

[lmelanie]

these girls can do no wrong..it seems..

 

[june gloom]

The full show is up on youtube if anyone is interested in seeing it.

 

[prehuman]

Absolutely gorgeous works of art.

 

[helmut.newton]

I don't understand of the point of people like Cathy Hoyrn. Fashion is an artform; therefore subjective. She doesn't seem to think so.

Every time I read her 'reviews', her arrogance is undeniably manifest. She references Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons and Miuccia Prada more times than I can count, as if to say, "I know more than you ever will about fashion, so bow at my temple"
She criticizes for the point of criticism and knows not to question the 'intellectual designers' for fear of being proven misinformed or just generally ignorant.

Anyways, I find her talk of 'saying something new' superfluous. Rodarte is, and always has been, concerned with evolution rather than revolution and radicalism. I don't find Hoyrn's judgment appropriate as a result. They never claimed/wanted to be concerned with this kind of relentless fowards-fowards-fowards-mentality and why should they? Fashion needs all kinds of designers; retrospective, introspective and prospective, in order to work.

Besides, I find Hoyrn's reviews rather self-indulgent, since the 'true fashion criticism' lies with the customers and the women who invest in these collections. Does it matter what Cathy Hoyrn thinks when these pieces are flying off shelves? I think not.

 

[Spike413]

^ So you must feel that way about all fashion critics then, that they're pompous morons who shouldn't be sharing their views? Let's face it, fashion criticism, in fact any kind of criticism of a creative field, is entirely unnecessary since it's sole purpose is to critique. So your accusation that her writing is just to blow smoke up her own a$$ for the sake of proving her knowledge or indulging in her ego seems a little ridiculous since that's pretty much what all fashion critics do. Disagree with her all you want, but saying that her reviews are self indulgent b.s. in a sea of meaningful insights is kind of ludicrous.

I'm actually going to go against the grain here and say that I do agree with some of the points she made in her review, despite the fact that I do really like the collection. I too don't think there was any emotion in this collection, or at the very least the way the collection was presented. It was like an army of clones, cold, alien, detached. As well I do think that Kate and Laura are mostly concerned with decorating clothes as opposed to creating them, and while I love the results for the interest and beauty, you can't deny that they don't seem too interested in the mechanics of fashion. They're working with the facade. I'm not saying they have to change that, but people will begin to question it sooner or later. I think Horyn's entire review was basically her way of asking when this evolution will lead to a point.

 

[irulan]

I can see where you're coming from, but I do wonder to what point you think fashion should lead?
A big thing in my book with fashion right now is that I tend to prefer designers who manage to create a look to fashion our decade and the next. Endless chains of references to other centuries of style as most designers prefer to do will not do for me anymore. Phillip Lim does the sixties, Zac Posen does Victoriana, Nina Ricci does Edwardiana, Marc Jacobs does the eighties in absolute hideousness true to this time.
Fashioning our decade means to cut all temporal references, to go away from all these established shapes that already have a stamp on them, colours that work fine with them, hairstyle and make-up and shoes included.
Nicolas Ghesquiere at Balenciaga, Miuccia Prada, Alber Elbaz come to my mind when I think about this way of designing. And not on the same level, but as the next generation maybe I think of such likes as the Mulleavys.
Their designs whether deliberate or not, I can't tell, point to nothing but themselves. Of course there are well-hid inspirations. But you can just as well forget them and the clothing is entirely self-referential. That is the point a good collection should lead to, at least in my fashion philosophy.