Vanity Fair Finds the Rodarte Sisters Odd, Grey Gardens-ish

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Vanity Fair sat down with Rodarte's Mulleavy sisters, "fashion’s outsider nerds," for a profile piece in anticipation of the duo's latest project: costuming Don Giovanni at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. They intro the piece with background info that any Rodarte fan already knows, namely, that neither sister looks particularly "fashiony" and that they still live with their parents in Pasandena.

From there, the article swells with interesting tidbits about their famous and influential friends and fans, their surprising success story and their quirky life. Below, our favorite five:

5. Natalie Portman went to one of their house parties, was intimidated: "It was the coolest people in L.A., myself not included, people so hip I’m too scared to talk to them."

4. Cameron Silver of Decades was instrumental in their early success. They sent him their first collection, done in miniature and packaged in "a doll’s armoire."

3. Anna Wintour was the one who recommended them to Frank Gehry for the Philharmonic job. "They’ve shown that they can create fashion magic on the runway and the movie screen, and their unique blend of quirky individuality, together with their hands-on couture approach and sense of craftsmanship, suggest that they are also the perfect choice to design for the opera.”

2. They met Karl Lagerfeld on their first trip to Paris, and he ended up bringing them along to a party at his apartment "where they were photographed by legendary fashion editor Suzy Menkes."

1. After spending some time with them, the author thinks that the sisters are going to end up old maids, Grey Gardens-style. "It’s hard not to picture them 50 years from now, two spinsters walking down the street trading one odd remark after another and collecting strange looks."
· The Rodarte Effect [Vanity Fair]