Rodarte's Star Wars collection debuted on the same day as details for Star Wars Episode VII.
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...Oh OK, not too long ago, on a catwalk in New York City.Rodarte fashion designer duo, Kate and Laura Mulleavy presented their new collection on Tuesday at New York Fashion, and the grand finale pieces were absolutely out of this world! The Mulleavy sisters founded their fashion line in 2005 and Rodarte has since gone from strength to strength, with celebrity clients including Cate Blanchett and Keira Knightley; however, their Fall 2014 collection is by far their most inventive and show-stopping collection yet.
The Rodarte sisters were fans of the Star Wars franchise as children
Closing the show, crowds were taken aback to see five fabulous and floaty finale gowns. That’s not so unusual, right? Well, each of the five romantic and silky gowns were printed with images from George Lucas’ super franchise, Star Wars! The stunning gowns wouldn’t have looked out of place on a red carpet or at a stylish do, had each of them not been sporting an image from the iconic sci-fi film. Printed on the sweeping skirts were movie stills of Luke Skywalker, chatterbox C-3PO, Jedi master Yoda and lovable droid, R2-D2. Somehow, the images don’t detract at all from the elegance of the gowns and the colour palette seems perfectly picked in order to compliment the stills. Incidentally, the show came on the same day that casting was confirmed as complete on Star Wars Episode VII, with the intention to shoot in London's Pinewood studios from May till September.
The sisters were inspired by their childhood love of the Star Wars films, which they were quoted by the Los Angeles Times as saying “represent for us a time when anything was possible”. That’s certainly a sentiment shared by many adults, as Star Wars became one of the defining films of the 20th century. The gowns themselves are certainly causing quite a stir and we wouldn’t be surprised if they inspire a new trend of Star Wars printed apparel.
Both Disney and George Lucas knew about the collection and had given their seal of approval to the project. The lucky designers were granted access to the Disney archives to find the images for their collection, but they already had images in mind for the dresses so declined the invitation. Laura also admits, “we were afraid we’d go into the archives and never come out”.
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Including the Star Wars dresses, the Rodarte New York Fashion Week show was a huge success. The designers’ had aimed for their line to have a hint of childhood but with an ultimately grown up feel. Sadly, the movie inspired dresses won’t be for sale but will be available for photography shoots and will hopefully be seen on exhibition.
The new Star Wars film, Star Wars: Episode VII, is due for release in December 2015 and apparently features the original cast, including Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill, who will be reprising their roles.