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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More photos after the jump...

Black Swan's Costume Designer (No, Not Rodarte) Speaks Out, But Why Now?

Amy Westcott (left) and Rodarte (Mulleavy sisters) (right)

Ask any fashion and non-fashion conscious person who designed the costumes for the Oscar nominated film Black Swan and they are sure to respond with Rodarte, the label behind Kate and Laura Mulleavy. The publicity surrounding Rodarte's costume designs for the film has undoubtedly overshadowed the credited costume designer, Amy Westcott.  Who is Westcott, you ask? Well, she's a pretty pissed off woman right this moment. Her recent interview with Clothes on Film reveals her disdain for the controversy surrounding Rodarte's ineligibility for an Oscar nod. Although it's now a moot point since the film didn't get a nomination for costume design, but let's face it, how could the Academy give Westcott the nomination when she didn't design the best costumes from the film?

So, why is Westcott making such a big deal after the nominations have already been announced? Could it be that she's upset that she couldn't ride on the coattail of all the Rodarte attention and earn an Oscar nod? Once articles started surfacing that Rodarte only had a back end credit and wouldn't be included if the film did get nominated, it was glaringly obvious that Westcott didn't deserve a nomination without Rodarte. I'm sure this must have influenced the Academy in some way. It would be one thing if Rodarte designed a dress or two that wasn't the main focus of the film, but their designs were so instrumental that their Black Swan costume was the focus of the promotional campaign.

Then there is the claim by Westcott that Rodarte did not design 40 costumes, which has been printed in almost every article, but instead only 7. In an interview with The Ballet Bag back in October, Westcott explains that Zack Brown (a famous ballet costume designer) designed the costumes for the corps de ballet and Rodarte added pieces to make it work with their Black and White Swan. However, in her interview with Clothes on Film she doesn't acknowledge Rodarte at all and instead says, "The core ballet was designed by Zack Brown (for American Ballet Theater), and my department and I added some feather detailing to assimilate them with the White Swan." So, what is it? Did they collaborate on the other 33 costumes or only designed 7?

The Perfectly Intense "Black Swan"

Last night, I went to a preview screening of Black Swan at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) starring Natalie Portman as the prima ballerina who, in pursuit of being perfect, loses herself and ultimately becomes the black swan.  From the trailer, Mila Kunis is portrayed as the evil rival that's out to get her but in the movie it's Portman's character Nina that's her own worst enemy.  At a few points in the film, this psycho-thriller really tests your tolerance for gore and even had everyone in the audience expressing their anguish out loud.

There is so much buzz about the film being an Oscar contender and after seeing Portman's intense performance, I can see why. Director Darren Aronofsky, also known for his critically acclaimed 2008 film The Wrestler, conceived the idea for this film several years ago. Portman had long been slated for the film and once it began taking shape she trained for a full year with former New York City Ballet dancer Mary Hellen Bowers. Although Portman had ballet training from the age of 4 to about 13, when she first met with choreographer Benjamin Millepied he was concerned about her abilities. I myself had training as a child and don't think I could have pulled off those dance sequences, even after a year of training.  Apparently she did have a body double but according to an LA Times interview with the director, she did 90% of the scenes, which is pretty incredible.

One of the main reasons I wanted to see Black Swan was to finally see the ballet costumes designed by Rodarte.  Although photos of the costumes have been circulating everywhere, it was quite a treat to see them in action, twirling around the stage.  As a loyal Rodarte costumer, Portman introduced Kate and Laura Mulleavy to Aronofsky and from there a wonderful collaboration was created. In an interview by New York Magazine, the sisters said that their biggest challenge was making the tutus. Since they had never designed a ballet costume, let alone seen one up close, they had to start from scratch. Although it was their first time working with layers of tulle, the costumes were absolutely gorgeous and created a dark, romantic aesthetic which really made those intense ballet scenes come alive. During the film, I noticed all the intricate details and obvious hard work that went into each costume. They should be in a museum, maybe donated to LACMA's Costume and Textiles department perhaps? Swarovski also donated nearly 250,000 crystals, weighing 40kgs for the ballet costumes, which added some sparkle.

Black Swan comes out this Friday, December 3rd. If you're seeing it this weekend, get ready for an intense and amazing film.

Related Articles:
Rodarte's "Black Swan" Tutus on Display
Black Swan's Costume Designer (No, Not Rodarte) Speaks Out, But Why Now?