"Black Swan" buzz has been mounting for months but this is a particularly climactic week in the life of Darren Aronofsky's stylish thriller, first with Natalie Portman's Oscar win last night and, starting this week, an installation of Rodarte's (now infamous) ballet costumes at Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles.
Starting Friday, the Rodarte tutus will be part of a broader exhibition, dubbed "States of Matter," featuring some 20 pieces from the Mulleavy sisters' celebrated Spring '10, Fall '10, and Fall '08 runway collections. With an emphasis on the designers' unusual use of textiles and fabric manipulation (it is not uncommon for a Rodarte garment be some combination of stained, stretched and burned), the exhibit is designed to showcase the clothes in the moment of transition between creation and actual wearing.
According to the press release, curator Rebecca Morse felt that by removing the garments from the human form, the focus of the exhibit will be "entirely on the dresses and tutus as singular scultpural objects."
While a full-blown museum retrospective of the sisters' rather short career feels a somewhat premature, we can't help envying the Angelenos who will be enjoying eyefulls of black tulle and beaded lace this weekend.
