Rodarte S/S 11 New York

[GERGIN]

"I just had a D-I-E moment!"

This collection is in my opinion the best show of NYFW thus far; make-up, hair, the clothes, ugh I can't breathe, it's just so beautiful...AND WEARABLE!

 

[Zazie]

Like most of the others here, I'm glad that they FINALLY do something out of their comfort zone and definitely can see that they have tried to learn some proper tailoring, or at least have hired some employees with tailoring skills. I love the fabrics on the surface, the mix of prints, the colours, etc., but they are much stiffer, heavier than usual SS fabrics. There are some well-made jackets, but nothing creative in the way of cut/construction. Sorry to say the designs remain amateurish - the huge layered peplums, the dresses with gathered fronts with no sides, the "collage" looks like tacked on and clumsily layered, and some newcomers, eg. Suno, do it better. The more intelligent collages are those managed by the likes of Michael van der Ham, CdG, etc. They look uncomfortable for spring/summer, as heavier, stiffer fabrics that are layered this way are intolerable for warm weather, unless they are sheer, light layers, so there is a question if they understand the nature of their fabric choices. They are trying some draping effects but again, because of the fabric choice and the lack of cut, the draping becomes bulky, like curtain swags. Usually, a conscious choice is made by the more sophisticated designers to choose such fabrics to express volume play, eg. Vera Wang, but here, they just balloon out unflatteringly. So although they finally change their approach, the results are not quite convincing. Maybe the Fall collection will suit their design tendencies better.

 

[GERGIN]

very cool...completely unwearable...

UNWEARABLE!?!? OMG ARE YOU INSANE? Rodarte hasn't done a collection this wearable for some time, if you think this is unwearable...well it's just madness!

Excuse my double posting, my emotions are getting to me!

 

[Zazie]

I also intensely dislike the repetitive peplumed tulip skirts, they sent them out in every other look, yet there are a zillion ways to do such skirts, but they only did one technique, the swag, which opens unflatteringly high up the, ahem, middle front. They've got to look at Ungaro archives to learn the proper way to do this! Or even a good "cutter" like Maria Cornejo.

 

[girlalamode]

Wow I love this! So glad they've moved forward. Really liking the shoes too!

 

[apriliciate]

so in love with the shoes!

 

[coopertrembled]

i see balenciaga, as per usual - the full skirts are similar to the prefall(?) dresses (the same that anna del russo(?) wore to the show) as well as the wrapped skirts which are a bit of a throw back to balenciaga's archives but more recently fw08 and fw09. as well as the large hips which made me think of balenciaga fw07 coats. and the layering is similar to ss08 where each layer moves on top of each other. the wooden prints also just highlighted the panels of formica in the fw10 balenciaga shoes.
but over all this collection is very chinese to me with the mandarin collars and the china blue dresses

 

[Deleted member 119799]

funny how it's mostly guys liking this

 

[Label Basher]

Besides the last 3 looks I love it. The colours and the fabrics are so lush.
This will probably be the best of NY.

 

[tealeafdancer]

I don't really feel this collection, though there are quite a few pieces that I like... And yes, they've really moved forward, resulting in a quite wearable collection.

 

[whatkatjadid]

What makes it look a bit stiff are the leather pieces. They're beautiful but difficult to wear I can imagine. I can see them in editorials.

 

[ParadEyes]

beautiful textiles..

 

[Crying Diamonds]

I was very relieved to see something different come out of Rodarte, but I'm afraid, I still didn't like it.
It was a lot more wearable than usual; not a trace of their felted collages that I despised so much, but they only provided two pieces maximum that I thought were nice and wearable.
I got a Marni vibe from the trousers, though I found the pairs that Rodarte did, sitting on the natural waistline, with the double pleats and prints and hem coming to the shin, were awful.
Furthermore, the plank prints were extremely gimmicky, to the point of being from a Jean Charles de Castelbajac collection, though I thought it was clever on the one belted bodice top where they came together with the grain diagonally like an expensive parquet.
I want to see how far Rodarte can push themselves into 'normal' clothing while still keeping their originality and flare.

 

[Fiercification]

Having seen the whole collection...I have to say that I loved it overall. There are some pieces that I could do without...I think that some of the proportions on the dresses look a bit unecessarily elaborate and that they could've cut down on some of the brown looks.

However most of it is gorgeous in a linear, modern way. The shoes are certainly out of this world...love the East Asian influence on the wooden heels.

 

[gossiping]

get rid of the shoes and this is in my top 5 shows this week

 

[Meg]

I think I see why this coule be more commercial than usual. Eventhough most of the design are still hard to wear in real life, with this collection it feels like it's easier to imagine how it would look when toned down. Which is something that has been missing in their last few collections.

I see what you mean about being able to see more clearly how this will translate into retail pieces, but I still don't love it. As someone else mentioned above, they seem to have lost the fantasy quality with this collection and imo that is what made their collections special and engaging.

I still stand by my wood burning kit claim though We can all make Rodarte dresses now with chipmunks and airplanes on them

woodcraftplans.com

 

[luckyme]

zazie, great insight on the patternmaking portion of the rodarte endeavor. it clears up what was bothering me about it.

 

[mistress_f]

has anyone come across a decent quality version of this photo?



daylife.com

 

[BLUECHIP]

to be honest i have never liked rodarte until this collection
which is one of the best of nyfw by far
so organic, so lax

 

[Zazie]

zazie, great insight on the patternmaking portion of the rodarte endeavor. it clears up what was bothering me about it.

luckyme, Thank you so much for the compliment, , it is so appreciated. I fear sometimes to come down hard on younger designers, but I think Rodarte has enough fans and supporters behind them to weather some critique. I hope they will improve with time, but sadly, I haven't seen the flash of possibility for design greatness from them. As a firmly established stalwart though, they are already there.