NEW YORK — Feb. 12 marked the opening of the 2010 Winter Olympics, and to celebrate the grace and athleticism of the US delegates, photographer Ryan McGinley collaborated with cult-favorite fashion label Rodarte on a photo essay, published Feb. 7 in The New York Times magazine.
The product was a series of startling photographs, featuring Olympic high-fliers — from snowboarders Shaun White, Kelly Clark and Hannah Teter, to figure skater Johnny Weir and freestyle skier Jeret “Speedy” Peterson — photographed in wooly, fringed, frayed and distressed Rodarte knitwear.
Together — cold, fast winter sports, plus Rodarte’s magical, dark, gothic fairy tale designs, spun out of a complex manipulation of materials and couture techniques — should not have made sense. But as proven time and again by Kate and Laura Mulleavy, the sisters and designers behind Rodarte, they have always defied convention.
Coming out of Aptos, California to New York with a 10-piece collection in 2005, they immediately shot up the scene with nominations to the CFDA Swarovski Award for Womenswear 2006 and 2007. By 2008 they won it and by 2009, they were CFDA Womenswear Designer of the Year.
Not bad for two liberal arts graduates with no technical and fashion design background whatsoever. Their designs are now present in the permanent collections of both the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Fashion Institute of Technology here in the city.
Recognizing the extraordinary talent and vision that is Rodarte, the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum is offering a glimpse into the Mulleavy’s unique process and inspiration at an important point in their career with a fashion installation entitled “Quicktake: Rodarte.”
“The Mulleavys’ instinctive approach and lack of traditional fashion training give their collections a fresh point of view while always managing to be sophisticated and experimental; something completely unique with American fashion,” said Gregory Krum, director of retail at Cooper-Hewitt.
Krum curates the installation, along with Susan Brown, assistant curator in the Textiles Department.
The exhibit features a selection of pieces from the Rodarte collections, as well as a special installation in the Billiard Room of the Carnegie Mansion.
“Quicktake: Rodarte” runs until March 14, 2010 at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
The museum is located at 2 East 91st Street at Fifth Avenue in New York City.
It is sponsored in part by Nordstrom, with additional support from Knoll Luxe Fine Textiles and Van Cleef & Arpels Media sponsorship is provided by Vogue. Mannequins are courtesy of Ralph Pucci, with exhibition lighting design by Renfro Design Group, Inc.