Quicktake: Rodarte focuses on the theme of destruction, an overarching subject in the work of sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy, who founded Rodarte in Pasadena, California in 2005. Rodarte’s work is unique within American fashion as they are not referencing other eras, but ideas, movements and works of art. Their lack of classical training allows them to pick, choose, combine or abandon traditional dressmaking and couture techniques in order to create their own visual language. 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. Their creations feature complex manipulations of materials: Knits become loose and irregular evoking multihued cobwebs; pristine pieces of leather are aged with marbling effects painstakingly hand applied. Silk, linen, cheesecloth, lace and leather are burned, sandpapered, ripped, painted and otherwise transformed in a marvelous effort to evoke a cracked and weathered desert landscape. Other elements such as wool cobweb, leather braids, macramé, crochet and crystals are combined to create the striking silhouettes of the Mulleavys’ meticulous vision. The resulting garments are tough, gothic and sometimes ferocious, however the Mulleavys’ particular brand of alchemy always produces work that is highly sophisticated and extremely beautiful.