Rodarte (FW2010 detail shots)

I was just revisiting some of the detail shots from the Rodarte show on style.com and realized that every detail from every ensemble of the collection was given the utmost excruciating care. I had a hard time picking a few of my favorites, every shot from the collection was equally breathtaking.

This collection has been really well-received, but a lot of people have criticized it because it strayed a lot from the Gothic, hardcore vein that Rodarte has been exploring, particularly in last season. I think anyone familiar with what the word Gothic actually means would understand that although Gothic is frequently dark and black, it doesnt have to be. Gothic is anything to do with the sublime, that which scares us, and how people take that fear and fetishize it into something attractive. This collection, inspired by sleepwalking according to the Laura and Kate Mulleavy, is equally pretty and ghostly.

Delicate embroidery on the sheer pants, chunky put-your-coat-on-my-dear-or-youll-catch-a-death-of-a-cold knits, and pretty pretty prints radiate an aesthetic of an Ophelia like character, pretty on the outside but on the inside tormented by something much darker. So the color palette and use of draping might be a little less obviously Gothic from last season, but the heart of the collection is still black and ice cold.