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Rodarte Has Landed

Whimsical, but wearable: Rodarte's Laura and Kate Mulleavy finally produced a collection that conceded - well, mostly - to the fact that there are women who are looking for dresses that are artisanal and couture-like but still somewhat practical.

Perhaps their recent collaboration with Gap spurred an interest in accessibility – the sisters designed their take on the white shirt for the retailer this past spring – but it’s good news for those who want to wear Rodarte to a luncheon, an art opening or a black tie dinner, as nearly every single dress or soft suit fit into the day dress/cocktail category. And there were even pants, paired with long, loosely knit, multicolored sweaters.

Make no mistake, Rodarte’s Spring ’08 collection didn’t completely trade in their eccentric signatures, the duo merely reworked them. Liberal mixtures of texture and color, like a dress with an electric blue satin pleats and sheer tulle panels, or organically shaped appliqués of raw-edged silk other dresses that wrapped asymmetrically from front to back.

The collection was inspired by Japanese anime and manga culture, and industrial-strength studded black leather Louboutin stilettos and Manic Panicked ponytails lent punk to the pretty. But it was the wide-ranging color palette that perhaps hinted most at Japanimation, with inky blues and fetishistic blacks juxtaposed with twee My Little Pony worthy pastels.

Pleats, which are shaping up to be a major trend this season as many designers seem Madame Gres and/or Twenties-obsessed, played a dominant role at Rodarte as well. A razor sharp accordion pleated copper skirt swayed like a tipsy lampshade, and elsewhere more realistic pin-tucked pleats were fashioned out of delicate layers of organza.

At the end of the show, the silver doors of a freight elevator opened up in a moment fraught with drama and anticipation - or it would have been, if only more than 30 or so people could have seen it. The tableaux of final looks reminded everyone of Rodarte's roots in the fantastic and ethereal, as three models finally emerged from the abyss like sea creatures swimming towards the light, strips of pastel kelp dangling off their foamy, frothy frocks: Sunken treasure no more.

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