Rodarte’s Hideously Kinky, Hot Mess of a Collection

It was all decay and romance at Rodarte's fall/winter '09 show, with key inspirations being dilapidated houses and Frankenstein. "It really was about piecing together different elements," Laura Mulleavy explained, and cited chipped marbling, wood, installation foil, and the art of Gordon Matta-Clark. Every look was a short dress with a collage of fabrics, textures, prints, and color schemes (we loved the popping green in the last few looks) paired with extreme thigh-high, bondage-strappy, Nicholas Kirkwood boots. It's easy to fetishize a world that seems to be falling apart, and the Mulleavy sisters are taking a step to renovate the slums by pulling out their own idealized, beautiful monsters, as a reminder to everyone to be creative with what we've got. And it probably helps having Sasha, Jourdan, and Olga as your gals, rather than, you know, a Boris Karloff look-alike. With a stunning Milla Jovovich, Rachel Zoe, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood, and DVF holding court front row, we say, damn, Rodarte's hideous progeny has gone and prospered.