Rodarte: By their own admission, sisters Laura and Kate Mulleavy have OCD. And it certainly served them well with their sophomore Rodarte effort, a presentation of just 16 looks, tight enough to allow the designers to obsess over the tiniest details, such as covering any snap closures — hidden inside the dresses — with chiffon and hand-sewing the folds on pleated looks, such as a dress that had pleats all around.
Before the show, Laura said they envisioned "a woman standing in a rock garden full of Brancusi sculptures." If the StyleLounge show locale in Times Square didn't exactly fit the Mulleavys' intended picture, the elegant, polished clothes did. They manipulated fabric by weaving, pleating and twisting it into flowy gowns and cocktail dresses. Often, they pulled out the pinking shears to finish hems and fly-away bits of chiffon, and worked the zigzag effect most beautifully on myriad dove gray silk strips they wove into a one-shouldered number. But as intricate as everything was, it all had a pretty swing to it. Here's hoping the Mulleavys will have something entirely new to obsess over soon — filling a stream of orders.
The dimension they've created with fabric... it's a feat I've come to admire... 
