It’s Rainy Blue Skies, Disco and Two-Headed Ladies in Kat Rose’s World
The late ’90s/early 2000s were a halcyon moment for worlds built for girls. It was just us, our power, and our wacky outfits. In retrospect, what a dream! Groovy Chick, Betty Spaghetty, Amelia’s Notebook, Theresa Duncan’s “Chop Suey” — worlds created from exhilarating notebook alternate realities. Twenty years later, fashion designer Kat Rose is creating a similarly hopeful universe with two-headed gals, blue skies, toadstools, and Deee-Lite’s “Groove Is In The Heart” on repeat.
Each piece is completely its own. Jeans and dresses are sourced from vintage stores and eBay, then illustrated with one-of-a-kind art. Below, Kat talks to us about her process of repurposing deadstock jeans and dresses, that time Dua Lipa wore her jeans, and the “sexy, groovy and fun” iconography of her world. On her site, she describes her creations as “what would happen if you doodled in a school exercise book whilst eating sour gummies,” and that ambient sugar rush is exactly what we need.
Today, we enter the Very Famous World of Kat Rose…
Kat, hi! I LOVE your designs! They are some of the most fun and special creations I’ve seen. Where did these characters come from, and what world are they inhabiting? What are their personalities like?
THANKYOU (big smooch!)
My characters inhabit a world of blue skies, clouds, and huge, gigantic toadstools. London exists there because that’s where all my friends live. Everyone is in love and having a great time! (Imagine the set from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and the Moomin TV series!)
These characters came from…I’m not sure where! I just started drawing the two-headed ladies one day because I saw somebody else do it, and I was like, “That’s what I’ve been looking for.” I think all the characters I draw are extensions of me and my friends, so we can exist in this nice world even if we can’t be with each other all the time in the real one.
Tell us the story of Kat Rose! What inspired you to take these illustrations and turn them into chic fashion?
I started making T-shirts in 2015 as an experiment but didn’t start selling them until 2016! I studied illustration at university, and I think a lot of the illustrators I admired at the time were doing T-shirts and I thought it would be a fun thing to do. I also started making zines and selling them around 2014-2015, and I think doing T-shirts was a much more direct way to get my work “out there” without the printing costs.
I started making dresses and jeans last year (as an experiment) and that’s how the current Kat Rose has stuck. I really enjoy doing jeans and dresses because there’s so much more you can do with them. Being able to use vintage and deadstock stuff makes the process so much more special! I was inspired by my friend Alicia Lane (jeansgurl98) to make the jeans…I’m not sure where the dresses came from, but I was really inspired (and continue to be) by the Aya Takano collab with Issey Miyake.
Something I love to explore is how someone builds their world and creates an environment with its own aesthetics and iconography that draws other people in. Paint us a picture, if you will, of the world of Kat Rose! What people/feelings/objects/colors are important to you in creating your world? What songs are playing?
I love my tiny objects…I’m actually moving out of my parents’ house (where I’ve lived for the past 3 years since graduating) in the summer, and I’m so excited to find new homes for them again and to put them in my space. I love Kewpie dolls and want to collect them (I have a devil one on my desk). I spend a lot of time on AliExpress and think I’m gonna buy all the tiny objects in 2021! And I like silly things and cheeky jokes. My favourite weather is when the sky is blue, but it’s raining and I think that happens a lot in the world I’ve created. Deee-Lite’s “Groove Is In The Heart” is always on a loop. That’s my favourite song.
What’s been inspiring you lately?
The work of @_daddybears_ (who makes sexy, beautiful soft objects), the account @afffirmations on Instagram, “I Could Be Happy” by Altered Images, toadstool houses, A Love Movement (@alovemovement), ugly dolls, kids jokes…The list goes on!
I really love the 1/1 handmade approach you’re taking with your designs and also that they’re very accessibly priced! I’m no expert trend analyst, but this feels like quite possibly the future of fashion. Why does it feel important to you to keep things so custom, from the hand-drawn illustrations to the beautiful labels you made recently?
1/1 is really special to me because nothing else like that will exist in the world! I have recently run similar designs, but I still make changes so that one is never like the other! Earlier on in the year, I came across the work of Juliet Johnstone and Mila Sullivan, and that really encouraged me to take the one-of-a-kind thing by the horns. By making each piece one-of-a-kind, the chance of mass reproduction is significantly lowered and that’s something I’m really passionate about — slow fashion and taking time to make something beautiful!
I’ve started making fabric labels out of a test-run pair of jeans I made back in 2019 that I accidentally submerged in water (long story short), and it’s so fun because I’m giving them a new lease on life. Each cut of fabric is different; it’s the same with the jeans (which I source from eBay, charity shops and Depop) and the dresses. They’re from a deadstock supplier; they were originally made for BHS, British Home Stores, which went defunct in 2016. BHS was owned by Philip Green, who’s this nasty multi-billionaire. I like to think by reusing these dresses as canvases and not putting them in landfill, I’m giving a massive “FUCK YOU” to him, and I think that lends a certain “je ne sais quoi” to my practice haha.
What are some exciting things on the horizon for Kat Rose?
I’m moving to London in August (fingers crossed!) which I’m really excited about! I’m going to be near all my friends and favourite places. I’m also working through a mammoth customs list, and I’m so excited to continue to see hotties wearing my jeans, bags and dresses.
What three things make you feel ~famous~?
When Dua Lipa wore my jeans on Instagram and Devon Lee Carlson liked the post, when my mum casually drops the fact that I make clothes into conversations at her ladies’ group (bad bitch behaviour!), and when people wear my stuff 🙂
All photos courtesy of Kat.
~*The Very Famous Quiz*~
And now, channeling Twist’s 1999 interview with Britney Spears…
February 9, 2022
In "Features"
