Guinevere van Seenus stars in Aanteni, a high-fashion techno-thriller from CFDA award-winning design sisters Rodarte, shot by their friend and frequent collaborator, the photographer and video artist Todd Cole. Set in the deserted grounds of Paypal founder Elon Musk’s Space X jet lab in Hawthorne, California, the film was inspired by the pioneering spirit of the space race, which, according to Rodarte’s Kate and Laura Mulleavy, “has defined generations of artists in their desire to use new mediums and question the established rules they were taught to follow.” This cinematic collision between rocket science and visual daring is an apt match for Rodarte’s spring 2010 collection—a symphony of flesh-colored crochet knits, fluorescent fibres, leather bandages and distressed plaid. Costumed in a series of these exquisite creations, Van Seenus blurrily emerges from a shimmering seascape before running through the starkly alluring spaces of the Space X facility—a former Boeing airline hanger that has been transformed into what the Mulleavys call “a world defined by color, texture and material.” Van Seenus’ hallucinatory journey, punctuated by glimpses of mysterious experiments and sudden rocket blasts, is chillingly soundtracked by LA noise-merchants No Age. We advise you to strap in and don a helmet for the spectacular finale—a truly stratospheric experience that takes Rodarte’s unique vision beyond the final frontier.
Rodarte
The sisters Mulleavy of Pasadena, California, have the kind of symbiotic quality and private shorthand (casually deploying the collective “we” and “us”) commonly associated with twins, which they are not—at least not technically. Kate, born in 1979, is Laura’s elder by a year and a half, but the girls, born to a botanist father and artist mother, grew up inseparable in Northern California and both landed at Berkeley, where they studied literature (Laura) and art history (Kate). Steeped in traditions of drama and romance, nature and art—themes that appear again and again in their work—the two returned to their parents’ house in 2005 and created their first collection of intricately wrought dresses and coats under the name Rodarte, culled from their mother’s maiden name. It was an awesome hit, and Rodarte has since piled up a powerful following of editors, celebrities and institutions of fashion: Anna Wintour has put their frocks on the cover of Vogue; Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton are among the actresses they’ve dressed; and their designs can be found in the permanent collection of the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2009, they won the CFDA award for Womenswear Designer of the Year. The Mulleavys recently had their first solo exhibition at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York, and they designed costumes for Darren Aronofsky’s upcoming film, Black Swan. View additional work credits on MyFDB.
Photo by Autumn de Wilde, 2010
What Rodarte Loves
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28April 28, 2010
Art's Immortal Rock Star
The Intimate Documentary "Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child"
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28March 28, 2010
Creating Sparks
Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Collected Works
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07September 7, 2009
Hitching a Ride
Jacob Holdt's American Pictures
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16February 16, 2010
Look Back At Anger
Kenneth Anger at Sprüth Magers
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16April 16, 2010
Seasons' Greetings
A Year in the World of Natsko Seki
