Inspired by: Days of Heaven, Rodarte

This past February, the Mulleavy sisters presented their Fall 2011 Collection at New York Fashion Week, for which they were inspired by Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven (1978) and the American Plains. Kate and Laura always seem to rely on films and landscapes for inspiration, and Days of Heaven is the perfect film for that because its visual beauty is quite stunning. I’ve featured them before with their S2009RTW collection, which was inspired by ballet and Japanese horror films, and their S2010RTW collection inspired by vultures and the Californian desert Death Valley. Their new F2011RTW collection is the perfect addition to Dressed Cinema.

Days of Heaven, a Terrence Malick film starring Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard, and Linda Manz, is a true cinematographic masterpiece. Néstor Almendros won the Oscar for Best Cinematography, even though Haskell Wexler (credited in the end of the film) also made quite the contribution to the film’s photography. The other nominations were for Best Costume Design (Patricua Norris), Best Music/Original Score (Ennio Morricone), and Best Sound (J. Wilkinson, R. W. Glass Jr, J. T. Reitz, and B. Thomas). The evocative score and its images were the essence of this film with very little dialogue involved, with the Texan Great Plains as the main frame and the whole story pretty much being told by the colloquial haunting voiceover of teenage girl Linda played by Linda Manz.

The Great Plains, which includes Kansas and Nebraska, were the main inspiration for the Mulleavy sisters. Kate explained after the show, “We couldn’t go to Nebraska and Kansas and not do a Wizard of Oz reference.”

Days of Heaven (1978) Paramount Pictures | Costume Designer, Patricia Norris | Director, Terrence Malick.

Wizard of Oz (1939) MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) | Costume Designer, Adrian | Director, Victor Fleming.

Runway photos courtesy of Style.com

© 2011 - 2015, Louise Junker.