One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Rodarte’s Fra Angelico Collection Debuts This Weekend at LACMA
A sketch by Kate Mulleavy of Rodarte's Fra Angelico Collection collection. (Image: From Rodarte's Facebook page.)
By Adrienne Dorsey/Special to LAist
This Saturday, LACMA will present the RODARTE: Fra Angelico Collection, a 10-gown installation that will be displayed alongside classic artwork from the Italian Renaissance. Rodarte designers, sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy, have drawn inspiration from Italian painter Fra Angelico among others for their Spring/Summer 2012 couture designs, using their signature dressmaking techniques, sculptural details and a soft fresco color palette to round out the refined collection.
The Mulleavy sisters, who founded Rodarte in LA in 2005, have donated these custom gowns for LACMA’s permanent collection in the Costume and Textiles Department. The Fra Angelico Collection was unveiled at Pitti Imagine in Florence, Italy last June and this will be its North American debut. The beautifully draped gowns are made of silk fabrics—from taffeta to tulle—and customized using feathers, Swarovski elements, sequins and silk flowers. Metallic accessories including headpieces and breastplates complete the dramatic looks of several key gowns.
Shortly after launching their first collection, Rodarte graced the cover of WWD and received critical praise from Vogue’s editor-in-chief Anna Wintour—and more recently created the iconic costumes for Darren Aronosky’s film Black Swan. Earlier this year, Rodarte’s first West Coast exhibition, Rodarte: States of Matter, was displayed at MOCA.
RODARTE: Fra Angelico Collection runs Dec. 17 through Feb. 5 at LACMA in the third floor of the Ahmanson Building.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
