>> After teaming up with Opening Ceremony last season for the lower-priced and more everyday wearable Rodarte for Opening Ceremony collection, Kate and Laura Mulleavy are back for another round for Fall 2011. Full of silk prints, cable-knit sweaters, and pinafore-inspired dresses, a preview of the Scandinavia-inspired collection — modeled by twins Gwen and Donna Loos, and hitting stores and online in early October — in the slideshow.
Photos by Autumn de Wilde
The Rodarte X Opening Ceremony collaboration has been a match made in heaven since its inception in February — and the love is still going strong for Fall. For their second collection with OC, designers Laura and Kate Mulleavy culled inspiration from Scandinavia, creating a soft and textural collection comprised of long silhouettes, pretty blush hues, and fur coats. The lookbook, modeled by twins Gwen and Donna Loos, shows a nice mix of themes with silk ruffled maxidresses, mohair cardigans, and Fair Isle knits for the girly girl and black leather skirts, sheer dresses, and long-haired fur toppers for the dark angel. The collection will be available early in October both in stores and online. Here are some Fall pointers we gleaned from the collection:
Now peep the complete lookbook in the slideshow.
>> There's nothing we like more than topping off a Spring look with the perfect pair of sunglasses. To help you choose, we rounded up our favorites for inspiration: think floral, fabric-covered sunnies by Rodarte for Opening Ceremony; rad, zippered creations from Alexander Wang; and electric-blue hues from American Apparel. That, plus more to add to your must-haves list in the slideshow.
There are two things that become even more important once Spring rolls around: accessorizing and sun protection. Lucky for you, Fab fashionistas, we've got you covered in both areas — we've rounded up a variety of Spring-ready hats and sunnies that will blend seamlessly into your current wardrobe and keep you safe and chic. Click through to see all 20 Fab-approved toppers and sunglasses, and shop your favorites!
The Investment: $725
Why We Covet: It's Rodarte. The Mulleavy sisters have become one of fashion's most highly respected designer duos, and their collections are the hard-to-acquire stuff of fantasy. Their collaboration with Opening Ceremony has all their romance and frills in functional silhouettes at a slightly lower price point, making it extremely covetable. Case in point: this incredibly detailed, ultra gorgeous floral guipire lace jacket that will be perfect for the soft dreaminess of Spring. It can look chic over a sleek silk column dress, flirty over a tank and jeans, or romantic with a flowy dress. It's got slight bell sleeves and a gently curved collar. It's something new that could be vintage, and we guarantee you could bring this out every season and get a million compliments.
The talented ladies of Rodarte debuted their collaboration in Opening Ceremony stores and online today — and just as you'd imagine, the collection Kate and Laura Mulleavy designed is fabulously cool. With a blend of lace-up leather jackets and shorts, floral prints, sandy tones, and vintage-inspired accessories, we're reminded of desert landscapes and a retro style sense. The women's collection retails from $250 to $2,200. Click through to preview our favorites, then shop it all.
>> Rodarte fans unite: Laura and Kate Mulleavy's collection for Opening Ceremony is now available online and in stores. “We were kind of thinking about dusty landscapes — it could be here in California, it could be in any of those places that you imagine on a road trip,” Laura Mulleavy told WWD. “I think that’s pretty much a universal look within the U.S.” And when time allows them, Laura and Kate still find themselves hitting the road. “We grew up that way, too,” said Laura. “The first time that we went on an airplane, it was a really big deal in our family because most of the time we’d be traveling in the US in RVs or [doing] different types of camping. We pretty much saw the whole country over the years through driving. That just seems like a really important thing to us.” There was also a big distinction between designing for their signature collection and for Opening Ceremony: “One huge difference was being able to do things in different colors and having different options and seeing them along in the process,” said Mulleavy. “We don’t design that way for the collection of our own. We’re really precise like, ‘this has to be this color,’ and if it’s not working out, right at the beginning, we switch it pretty quickly.”
Furthermore, the collection marks the sisters' first foray into designing menswear: “It’s a lot more limiting,” said Mulleavy. “It’s harder to make a jacket really beautifully done for men when you have so much freedom when you’re doing one for a woman. I feel like there’s a different set of rules somehow. Even if you could break them, they’re still there.” The women's collection retails from $250 for a top to $2,200 for a lace-up leather jacket, accessories start slightly lower, and the men’s line ranges from $250 to $750. Rodarte and Opening Ceremony also plan on continuing the love with a second collection in the future. Peep the slideshow for our favorite looks from the collection.
>> Laura and Kate Mulleavy recently announced that they're collaborating with Opening Ceremony on womenswear, menswear, shoes, handbags, eyewear, hosiery for Spring under the label Rodarte for Opening Ceremony. Laura sat down with the retailer to talk about creating prints for their own label — "For the new [Spring 2011] collection, we did about 20 prints and 12 of them were off '70s wood paneling, different floorboards" — and their month-long quest for the right button: "We used a button for the first time, and that was traumatic! We needed one for this pair of shorts because it looked cute. And I hate buttons. So, we looked for buttons for a month at every source of buttons in the world and we never found one we liked. So, eventually I was talking to this tailor when I was picking up my dry cleaning, and I was like, 'Well, what do guys use for buttons?' and he said, 'Just make a covered button.' So, that's what we did. But it was flat, so it doesn't look like anything!"
She also explained how the Black Swan collaboration came about: "Someone in LA said to us, 'I don't know if you've heard about this secret script that's going around Hollywood, but I think it would be perfect for you to do something with this film.' It's basically a ballet horror film, which we had done a whole collection of. It went really well. I think what we do aesthetically worked for what he needed for the film. It's like a whole Swan Lake with a demon and everything, it's really cool. I think when you see it, you're gonna freak out."
There isn't just one fashion tidbit to fill you in on today — there's five! The two most exciting revelations are the possibility of a new Kate Moss clothing collection and Rodarte teaming up with Opening Ceremony. What's more, Nicolas Ghesquiere designed his first watch for Balenciaga on the Spring '11 catwalk. Issey Miyake gets shady, and Oscar de la Renta plans on taking his footwear business from $10 million to $50 million! Step inside for all the details.
