In my opinion, a really great fashion film has clothes so haunting and mystical that you are left imagining them days later. The last time the fashion scene saw something of any magnitude, that left ripples merely awaiting its release, was Sophia Coppola's Marie Antoinette. After having watched movie after movie come and go, the time has come for another with the same obsession-worthy cast of clothing: Black Swan. The movie, featuring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis, is a dark, ballet thriller (have those words ever been uttered together?) whose costume design featured none other than the Mulleavy sisters. I cannot think of anyone better suited to costume a trip into Gothic wonderland than them, a duo known for their ability to make violence and horror feel romantic and ethereal in both their collaborations and fashion line, Rodarte.
Both a Black and White Swan costume was featured in the movie, decked out in every kind of Swarovski crystal imaginable (250,000 in the movie in total) and the sisters seemed to work every angle of mirroring the dichotomy and torturous struggle that played out in the movie. Early this summer sketches began leaking of the close to 40 pieces the set designed for the movie, and they are beyond breathtaking. And despite the macabre and edge-of-your-seat feel of the movie, you can’t help but transform a girly childhood dream of growing up to be the sweet princess ballerina, to the dark, mesmerizing one outfitted in the minds of the Mulleavy sisters.
Text Corinna Fabre
