Rodarte is one of those labels that delights, fascinates, and (sometimes) eludes critics, customers, and fashion followers alike. The presentations are always ethereal and never conventional (as is its confounding business model), and the brand is always focused on telling a story through artful, improbable design. Nothing about the brand's trajectory has been all that traditional, starting with the fact that neither Kate nor Laura Mulleavy studied fashion. So, the fact that the sisters' next move is to write and direct a feature film, starring one of their muses? Yep, that sounds about right.
The trailer for Woodshock, the writing and directing debut of Rodarte's co-founders and creative directors, was just released by A24, the studio that produced Moonlight and American Honey, along with many other renowned films. The film depicts Kirsten Dunst (a friend of the Mulleavy sisters, the actress frequently wears their designs), as a woman named Theresa dealing with the aftermath of an emotionally traumatic loss with cannabinoid-like drug, through a very trippy, somewhat creepy, but always aesthetically-pleasing lens.
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"Woodshock is a hypnotic exploration of isolation, paranoia, and grief that exists in a dream-world all its own," per a release for the film. While this marks the first time the Mulleavys translate their storytelling to the silver screen, Rodarte does have a pretty major Hollywood credit to its name: The L.A.-based label designed Natalie Portman's black and white swan costumes for the Darren Aronofsky-directed Black Swan back in 2010. And, as evidenced by Tom Ford's recent Academy Award nomination, it's not completely unprecedented for designers to apply their aesthetic abilities to the medium of film — and to do so successfully.
Watch the full trailer for the film, which comes out on September 15, below.
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