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NEW YORK, United States — Kate and Laura Mulleavy were meditating upon some obscure inspirations for their Spring/Summer 2017 collection, namely the bees buzzing around the new flower patch in their Pasadena backyard and an arthouse Spanish film from the 1970s entitled 'Spirit of the Beehive' about a little girl intrigued by Frankenstein (just like them).
Although bees are powerful heralds, they remained absent from the collection in any literal form. Instead, the Californian sisters wove its symbolism through swathes of honeycomb tulle, drifts of pollen-shaped embroideries, and a honey-toned colour palette warmed by pale purples and a single shot of bee-stung blood red.
Alongside the frothy, artisanal gowns with which Rodarte made their red carpet name, the sisters expanded upon the patchwork Mongolian furs and embellished biker leathers that have balanced the tougher side of their angelic bohemia of late. The best of those came festooned with mirrored studs and panels of laser-cut floral leather — a stifling proposition for Spring perhaps, but a pleasantly strange and brilliantly textured one.
