Rodarte’s designers, Laura and Kate Mulleavy, decided to go a different way this year and portray their spring/summer 2020 collection through a series of fantastical, dreamy photographs instead of presenting their work during New York Fashion Week (NYFW). Rodarte is known for their quirky, fanciful, idealistic type of fashion and they followed through with this with a fairytale like photoshoot shot with photographer Daria Kobayashi Ritch.
They worked with multiple actresses and musicians to portray this whimsical fairytale-esque campaign such as Lili Reinhart, Kirsten Dunst, Margaret Qualley, Yalitza Aparicio, Alexa Demie and many more. Ritch thought using Greek sculptures and paintings complimented by large green and floral bouquets with a clash of a black and white hexagonal floor would go hand-in-hand with Rodarte’s aesthetic.
All in cohesion with the backdrop and their spring/summer theme, the princess-y, voluminous gowns or cloque dresses with puff-sleeves, sequence or floral and geometric patterns, blended in with the idea of not knowing whether they’d been painted or photographed, the premise behind the campaign. The subtle colors of mint-green, wedding dress white, black and white, baby pink or even Gabrielle Union’s orange, purple and black merged well with the appeal of the photoshoot. Nonetheless, the combined decision between the Mulleavy sisters to provide a photograph for visual reference rather than show their collection down a runway was a decision they don’t regret.