kate mulleavy

>> Rodarte's Laura and Kate Mulleavy Appearing on The Martha Stewart Show Next Week —Martha Stewart had a host of fashion figures on her show last month, and she's not stopping: next Thursday, May 20, Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte will be featured as part of "The Siblings Show." According to the release, "Kate and Laura will be showcasing five of their couture creations and explaining the unique process of bringing their distant memories of Pasadena, California to life through their eccentric pieces."

>> "We were losers," Rodarte's Kate Mulleavy proclaimed to the audience who came to hear her and sister Laura get peppered with questions at FIT in New York Tuesday night. Kate was speaking of the time before she and Laura were designers, and instead were college graduates, sitting at home watching six films a day. Laura eventually picked up a waitressing gig, but as for Kate, she did, in her own words, "nothing." Later, Kate added of their current state: "Technically, we shouldn't even be up here. In a weird way, it's like we had a stream of circumstances where I look at now and think, 'This is so crazy that this happened to us.' But we're probably the least likely people that it should have happened to."

Would they ever design separately? »

>> Another Fashion Film Planned from Rodarte; Gia Coppola Shoots Video for Zac Posen for Target —Fashion films continue to proliferate — Business of Fashion just put together a list of their top ten for the season — and already, two more are queued up. Last night at the Los Angeles screening for "Aanteni," the short film featuring Guinevere van Seenus that Rodarte did in collaboration with close friend Todd Cole, Cole revealed that he plans to shoot another short for the label next month, featuring the Fall 2010 Rodarte collection. “I never really understand what we do until I see how others interpret our work,” said Kate Mulleavy. “I trust Todd because we see things in the same way, but he takes it to the next level.” Also in attendance was Gia Coppola, who said she just shot a video for Zac Posen's Target collection, to hit the Internet later this month. [WWD]

>> For two consecutive seasons, Pierre-Yves Roussel, CEO of LVMH's fashion division, has been front row at Rodarte's show. But according to Fashion Week Daily, LVMH may have lost out on being the first to employ Laura and Kate Mulleavy.

The sisters are reportedly in contract negotiations with French furrier Revillon, which Peter Dundas last designed for; the company opted not to show during the most recent Paris Fashion Week due to lack of a designer.  The Mulleavys' first collection for Revillon will apparently be shown in July alongside Paris couture. "It's still a huge secret," The Daily's source said. "But the higher-ups at Revillon started pitching it to retailers during Paris Fashion Week."

Brian Phillips, Rodarte's spokesman, denies the reports. "Rodarte is not designing for Revillon."

>> Laura and Kate Mulleavy Designed Ballet Costumes For Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan Film—After Rodarte's Laura and Kate Mulleavy signed with WME last September to explore entertainment opportunities, it was only a matter of time before their work showed up on film.  Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan seems a good fit, not only because of the Mulleavys' love for horror films (Black Swan is a thriller), but because Natalie Portman, who attended the Fall 2010 Rodarte show, stars alongside Mila Kunis.  The movie features scenes from "Swan Lake," for which the Mulleavys designed ballet costumes. [WWD]

>> LVMH Still Keeping Front Row Eye on Rodarte —For the second season in a row, Pierre-Yves Roussel, CEO of LVMH's fashion division, who plays a key role in spotting talent for LVMH labels, was front row at Rodarte.  When asked about possible placement of Laura and Kate Mulleavy within the LVMH portfolio, Roussel played coy. All he would say: "We still love what they do." [WWD Blog]

>> All the top tickets in town are jumping on the livestream bandwagon.  First, Marc Jacobs announced his 500 person, front-row only show would be open and shown live to the public via the Intertubes a couple of days ago, and today, Alexander Wang, Calvin Klein, and Rodarte have all announced they're entering the ring this season as well.

The Wang and Rodarte shows will both be presented live on Nick Knight's Showstudio.com, with Wang's debuting at 5 pm EST on Feb. 13 and Rodarte's at noon EST on Feb. 16.  Calvin Klein, meanwhile, will broadcast their women's show on calvinkleincollection.com and Facebook at 3 pm on Feb. 18.

So what does all this livestreaming mean for the future of Fashion Week? »

>> New York Fashion Week Tidbits: Rodarte, Alexander Wang Working with Nick Knight on Films, and more —Alexander Wang and Laura and Kate Mulleavy must have liked the video of Raquel Zimmermann writhing among snakes that Nick Knight produced for the backdrop of Alexander McQueen's Spring 2010 show: Knight is said to be working with both Wang and Rodarte on fashion films for their upcoming shows. Erin Wasson, meanwhile, is said to be inspired by Jimi Hendrix for her upcoming RVCA collection, and Cushnie et Ochs are collaborating with Albertus Swanepoel on hats for Fall 2010. [WWD, Nylon, W Magazine]

>> In the Jan. 18, 2010 edition of the New Yorker, Amanda Fortini profiles Laura and Kate Mulleavy of Rodarte and their quest to go against your typical "high gloss, high fashion, glamour, put-together, shiny, perfect — everything too exact" label, in the words of Laura.  The Fall 2009 thigh-high wraparound boots Nicholas Kirkwood created for Rodarte, for example, were meant to evoke "hands wrapped in plastic in a morgue."

Kate told the magazine, "The most unhappy Laura or I have ever been was when we heard we made 'a pretty dress.' We want to make people think, and, once you decide to do that, you will have people that don't like what you're doing."  She later added, "The other day, we were laughing that if we could take our clothes and bury them, and in ten years take them out, we would actually be satisfied [with how they look]."

Anna Wintour gives her two cents »