Dreaming in Fashion: Rodarte's "Black Swan" Tutus on Display

Friday night, I attended the VIP reception for the "Rodarte: State of Matter" exhibition at MOCA's Pacific Design Center space in West Hollywood. Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte were in attendance and I had a chance to briefly meet them. "It's really special to have our first solo exhibition at MOCA," said Kate Mulleavy. It sure is for these talented California native designer sisters, who now reside only miles away in Pasadena. Our meeting was short lived as the sisters were in high demand that night, but I was still able to snag a quick picture with them.

The exhibition is comprised of more than 20 pieces, three black and three white tutus from the film "Black Swan" alongside other black and white couture dresses by Rodarte. The dresses are hung throughout the exhibition suspended on nearly invisible resin mannequins made just for the exhibit. The six tutus on display also rotated at one revolution per minute, allowing visitors to see the full costume. The first room of the exhibition is very dark with only a dim spotlight on the black dresses and tutus. Keeping with the dramatic flair, the second room's lights dim periodically, blacking out the 14 white tutus and dresses on display for only a few seconds. One of the white tutus in the second room has a red "blood stain" on the front, which looked to be from the last scene of the film. It was very exciting too see all the detailing and textures of the costumes up close, including the Swarovski crystals, feathers, and many layers of tulle. The exhibition is up at the Pacific Design Center through June 5, 2011.

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