NEW YORK, NY.- “Quicktake: Rodarte,” a fashion installation, will be on view at the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum from Jan. 29, 2010, through March 14, 2010. Founded in 2005 by Kate and Laura Mulleavy, Rodarte is widely acclaimed for its daring and conceptual collections. “Quicktake: Rodarte” offers a glimpse into the Mulleavys’ unique process and inspiration at an important point in their career; recently Rodarte was awarded the 2009 Womenswear Designer of the Year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America and was named a 2009 fashion design finalist for Cooper-Hewitt’s National Design Awards.

Rodarte’s creations feature complex manipulation of materials and other meticulous techniques evocative of haute couture through an American lens. The Mulleavys deliver emotionally powerful, dynamic collections that interweave extremely hard and delicate elements simultaneously. Recent runway collections have referenced disparate themes, such as the building and taking apart of homes, California condors, Boris Karloff as Frankenstein, land art and Japanese horror films.

“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 within American fashion,” said Gregory Krum, director of retail at Cooper-Hewitt, who is curating the installation along with Susan Brown, assistant curator in the Textiles Department.

This collaboration with Kate and Laura Mulleavy will feature a selection of pieces from the Rodarte collections, as well as a special installation in the Billiard Room of the Carnegie Mansion.

“Rodarte” is the second in a series of “Quicktake” installations aimed at showing the public vital up-and-coming design from around the world. In summer 2007, Cooper-Hewitt launched the “Quicktake” series with Doshi Levien’s Charpoy collection for Moroso, which debuted to critical acclaim at the 2007 Salone Internazionale del Mobile, the annual furniture fair in Milan, Italy.

Rodarte
Rodarte was founded in 2005 by Kate and Laura Mulleavy in Pasadena, Calif. Rodarte is the recipient of the 2009 CFDA Womenswear Designer of the Year award, a 2009 fashion design finalist of Cooper-Hewitt’s National Design Awards, and was the first American fashion house to receive the prestigious Swiss Textiles Award in 2008. Rodarte is present in the permanent collections of both the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Fashion Institute of Technology Museum in New York. Style icons that have worn Rodarte include Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman, Keira Knightley, Kirsten Dunst, Michelle Obama, Tilda Swinton and Reese Witherspoon.