Rag and bone men always fascinated me. Over ten years ago, when I first visited the Sharmanka Gallery in Glasgow I silently stood in front of one of the kinetic sculptures made by Eduard Bersudsky called “Rag and Bone Man” and contemplated it for quite a few minutes, trying to spot all the little objects the artist had incorporated in that unique piece.
Ragpickers collected rags and scraps to transform them into other things or trade them and that’s why – cultural critic Walter Benjamin docet – these figures are a sort of inspiration for creative types and in particular for fashion designers.
Creating something new while scavenging the old, reusing ideas and materials from the past are often seen as the first stages of a fashion designer’s modus operandi.
In many ways Rodarte fit this image and they can be considered as “rag and bone girls”.
Kate and Laura Mulleavy seem to be able to pick up every kind of fabric and material and incorporate them all together in one of their designs: floral and checked fabrics are mixed with ethereal chiffons and soft silky textiles; cobweb-like knits are matched with lace and woollen plaids.
Everything is wrapped, draped and layered on the models’ bodies while the edges and hems of the garments look tattered and torn, fragilely fraying, as if the garments had been eaten by very original and stylish moths.
The Mulleavys followed again their signature style in their A/W 2010-11 collection, leaving behind their fierce amazons this time and looking for different inspirations in the Texas-Mexican border town of Juarez and in the local shift workers heading half asleep to their factories in the early hours of the morning.
Rodarte’s girls had therefore hastily dressed while still sleeping and that was the explanation behind the layered cardigans and wrapped jackets worn on ethereal and romantic dresses.
The general mood was lighter and more optimistic with delicate floral dresses and skirts worn with embroidered sheer leggings and matched with intricately loose knitted sweaters and crocheted cardigans.
Hems lengthened this time and the palette lightened including faded earthy tones and more romantic shades such as opaque apricot and nude.
It was definitely less apocalyptic than their Spring/Summer 2010 collection, but the spooky ghosts of Juan Rulfo’s seminal and unsettling novel Pedro Páramo seemed to be echoed in the immaculate white evening dresses with fringes of pearls that closed the show and in the fluorescent patterns and fluorescent heels of Nicholas Kirkwood for Rodarte shoes.
Undoubtedly the Mulleavys are gifted with the vision and imagination young minds have, but they are somehow committing one mistake, repeating themselves.
Able to replicate their wrapped and tattered patchwork designs in hundreds of different versions, textiles and colours, the design duo should now maybe prove that, apart from wrapping fabrics around the body and create some wonderfully swirling motifs that even Valentino wants to copy, they are also able to actually cut clothes.
Original and intriguing, the sisters should maybe stop for a second and ponder about "Quicktake", the exhibition that currently celebrates them at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.
It's time for the girls to realise that in the dynamically and relentlessly fast world of fashion, it's easy to shoot to fame and even easier to burn out, exactly like the charred remains of their designs that close the "Quicktake" installation.
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