Another thing I saw last week at the NMWA was their big Rodarte show, which introduced me (a nonfashion person) to the work of the sisters Mulleavy. They are young, Californian, and prone to experimentation. Some of their clothes are really beautiful, enveloping notions of craft, place, and wilderness (somehow).
Being the mother of two girls, it was fascinating to me to contemplate the mind-meld these two sisters have achieved, collaborating and creating as one person, it seems. And they are self-taught, self-empowered, entrepreneurial. They made, among other things, the white and black swan ballet costumes used in the movie Black Swan.
Their show felt of a piece with the feminist atmosphere of the museum, except that all the gowns, skirts, and other unnameable raiments on display were designed and made for skinny bodies. They were shown on the same mannequins you see in stores–proportioned like tall twelve-year-olds or anorexic adults.
It’ll be a great day when strong women get strong enough to imagine and make astonishing clothing-art for common body types.