In June 2011 fashion designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy, aka Rodarte, debuted their “Fra Angelico Collection” at Florence's Pitti W, a part of the annual Pitti Immagine trade show dedicated to special projects in women's fashion, and announced that they would have given the entire collection to LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) as a gift.
Indeed, the designers' small collection of Italian inspired gowns created to pay homage to their love of art history, are now on display in Los Angeles in a special exhibition presented in the museum's Italian Renaissance gallery through February 5, 2012.
The Rodarte sisters created a breathtakingly beautiful installation that revolves around ten exclusive couture pieces. The collection is inspired by Italian Renaissance and Baroque works of art, like the frescoes in the monastery of San Marco in Florence by Beato Angelico, Fra Angelico, the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa sculpture, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680) in Rome and works by the Master of Fiesole Epiphany.
Rodarte’s signature dressmaking techniques and sculptural details can be seen in each of the gowns. A variety of materials such as feathers, Swarovski elements, sequins, and custom-made silk flowers, enrich the silky drapes modelled to give form, texture, and tonal variety to the color palette inspired by the frescoes. Hand-forged gold metallic accessories such as a headpiece, breastplate, and belts dramatically complete the look of several key gowns.
The Fra Angelico collection will then enter LACMA’s Costume and Textiles Department, which houses over twenty-five thousand objects, representing more than one hundred cultures and two thousand years of human creativity in the textile arts.
