Rodarte embraces everybody
The L.A. label teams with Universal Standard on a capsule collection that is colorful and size-inclusive.
The Los Angeles fashion label Rodarte is continuing to have a busy and buzzy year, after showing its fall/winter 2019 collection on home turf for the first time in February and dressing lead actress nominee Yalitza Aparicio for the Academy Awards the same month.
The latest is a collaboration with Universal Standard, a New York-based, size-inclusive brand started by Alexandra Waldman and Polina Veksler in 2015, that consists of a blouse, dress, skirt and jumpsuit offered in shades of peony pink, fire-engine red, white and black, with signature Rodarte flourishes like ruffles, ruching and undulating hemlines.
Keeping with the brand’s core tenet of “clothing for all,” the collaboration comes in sizes 00 to 40 (or 4XL), with prices from $150 to $240. The collection is available at UniversalStandard.com and at a New York pop-up shop.
Waldman said that when she and Veksler reached out last year, the sisters behind Rodarte, Laura and Kate Mulleavy, agreed right away. “The whole idea is to partner with brands that understand that fashion is for everyone and want to send that message out into the world,” Waldman said.
The two brands worked on the project for about eight months, with Waldman and Veksler making multiple trips to the West Coast. Waldman, however, emphasized that the collaboration is a manifestation of Rodarte’s signature style. “They’re so aesthetically different from what we do, so we thought it would be a real treat to our consumer,” she said.
The response has been positive, with Refinery 29 calling the collaboration “game-changing” and Vogue swooning that it’s “full-fantasy territory.” And on social media, effusive proclamations such as “The future of fashion” and “I’m in awe!” have been made about the collaboration.
Waldman said sales for the collection have already been brisk.
“This is an expansion of the world that we’re trying to create,” Waldman said. “We’re creating a new normal. And we’re doing it one step at a time, with brands we believe in and who believe in what we’re doing.”