Throughout the room, lights were enclosed in slatted wooden boxes arranged in grids like an installation from Dia Beacon. In the minutes before the Rodarte show, editors skirted around the boxes to their seats, brushing shoulders with the non-fashion friends Kate and Laura Mulleavy always bring into the mix. Kim Gordon, original riot grrl Kathleen Hanna, human computer John Hodgman, Spike Jonze, and yes, Kanye (with a golden grill) were all there. There was a truly palpable excitement that grew as the first girls walked out to The Doors' 'The End.' Photographer David Benjamin Sherry leaned over to me and said, grinning, "These girls get it!" Suddenly the boxes made sense: there was a certain precision and rigor to the collection that felt new, without losing the organic texture of past seasons. Speaking of texture, it was integral: ponyskin checkerboards, wood-printed mosaics, embossed gold, and mottled leather, along with blue and white carved Delft porcelain-seeming shoes. Although there were tinges of the Wild West, prairie life, the sixties, the browns of suburbia, and minimal art, the collection defies easy inspiration sources to create something altogether new.

Photos by Humberto Leon and Rory Satran.



FILED UNDER: rodarte , nyfw , ss2011 , fashion week , spike jonze , carol lim , humberto leon , candy pratts price , tavi gevinson , todd cole , david benjamin sherry , liz goldwyn , laura mulleavy , kate mulleavy , kim gordon , kathleen hanna