Rose Mortem
Encyclopedia
Rose Mortem is the fashion label of America
n fashion designer Rose Mortem, most widely known for her dark romantic fashion stylings, and her involvement with underground music as a promoter
, musician
and disc jockey
.
Launching in 1998, the Rose Mortem fashion label has been featured in several publications including Mick Mercer
's cult classic, 21st Century Goth. Rose Mortem also creates fashions for independent films and theatre productions. Use of velvets, chiffons, satins, tulles and lace with ripped netting, sharply angled hemlines and layered skirting have become the label's trademark style. As a musician and promoter Rose is linked most notably with legendary gothic rock
band The Awakening
of South Africa
. She has worked on many tours and events for gothic rock
, synthpop
and alternative rock
musicians including Wolfsheim
, The Mission UK and 1990's model and musician John Koviak; and regularly DJs under the name Mary Chain as a loving tribute to post-punk rockers The Jesus and Mary Chain
.
According to interviews with Rose, designs are inspired greatly by musicians, ranging widely in style, from David Bowie
to Loretta Lynn
. The designer also draws on her studies of Bohemianism
, Dark Romanticism
, and love for the literature, art and music of the Decadent Movement
. Holding a degree in Business, she credits her knowledge of fashion design entirely to her mother and grandmother's instruction, and to her "youthful passion for dissecting thrift store wedding gowns." Rose attributes her creativity to her eccentric upbringing by a non-nuclear family of various artists, and her long-time obsession with "making fashions that feel like music."
In 2009 Rose Mortem announced a partnership with South African record label Intervention Arts to distribute The Awakening
's albums in the USA. Shortly thereafter Rose joined the band on piano and keyboards, and was featured in their 2009 release entitled Tales of Absolution and Obsoletion
. 2010 saw the release of a new fashion line featuring bustle skirts, bell sleeve tops, and other designs that Rose describes as "combining the elegance and extravagance of classic New Wave
and Gothic fashion
with touches of Bohemian elegance and Lolita
chic - updated and reinvented for the modern world."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
n fashion designer Rose Mortem, most widely known for her dark romantic fashion stylings, and her involvement with underground music as a promoter
Promoter (entertainment)
An entertainment promoter i.e. music, wrestling, boxing etc is a person or company in the business of marketing and promoting live events such as concerts/gigs, boxing matches, sports entertainment , festivals, raves, and nightclubs.- Business model :Promoters are typically hired as independent...
, musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
and disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
.
Launching in 1998, the Rose Mortem fashion label has been featured in several publications including Mick Mercer
Mick Mercer
Mick Mercer is a journalist and author best known for his photos and reviews of the goth, punk, and indie music scenes. He has photographed the bands Tragic Venus and Blondie in the UK and Europe.He publishes a monthly online magazine called "The Mick"....
's cult classic, 21st Century Goth. Rose Mortem also creates fashions for independent films and theatre productions. Use of velvets, chiffons, satins, tulles and lace with ripped netting, sharply angled hemlines and layered skirting have become the label's trademark style. As a musician and promoter Rose is linked most notably with legendary gothic rock
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
band The Awakening
The Awakening (band)
The Awakening is an alternative rock band from Johannesburg, South Africa, formed in 1995 by vocalist, guitarist and producer Ashton Nyte. The band is credited in the press as "South Africa's most successful Gothic Rock act and one of the top bands in the far broader Alternative scene." The band...
of South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. She has worked on many tours and events for gothic rock
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
, synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
and alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
musicians including Wolfsheim
Wolfsheim (band)
Wolfsheim was a synthpop band from Hamburg, Germany that consisted of Markus Reinhardt and Peter Heppner. Although never officially disbanded, Wolfsheim has been inactive since 2005 due to a dispute between the two members, which even led to trials in 2007 and 2008 that forbade either member to...
, The Mission UK and 1990's model and musician John Koviak; and regularly DJs under the name Mary Chain as a loving tribute to post-punk rockers The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride, Glasgow in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid...
.
According to interviews with Rose, designs are inspired greatly by musicians, ranging widely in style, from David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
to Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...
. The designer also draws on her studies of Bohemianism
Bohemianism
Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits...
, Dark Romanticism
Dark romanticism
Dark Romanticism is a literary subgenre. It has been suggested that Dark Romantics present individuals as prone to sin and self-destruction, not as inherently possessing divinity and wisdom. G. R...
, and love for the literature, art and music of the Decadent Movement
Decadent movement
The Decadent movement was a late 19th century artistic and literary movement of Western Europe. It flourished in France, but also had devotees in England and throughout Europe, as well as in the United States.-Overview:...
. Holding a degree in Business, she credits her knowledge of fashion design entirely to her mother and grandmother's instruction, and to her "youthful passion for dissecting thrift store wedding gowns." Rose attributes her creativity to her eccentric upbringing by a non-nuclear family of various artists, and her long-time obsession with "making fashions that feel like music."
In 2009 Rose Mortem announced a partnership with South African record label Intervention Arts to distribute The Awakening
The Awakening (band)
The Awakening is an alternative rock band from Johannesburg, South Africa, formed in 1995 by vocalist, guitarist and producer Ashton Nyte. The band is credited in the press as "South Africa's most successful Gothic Rock act and one of the top bands in the far broader Alternative scene." The band...
's albums in the USA. Shortly thereafter Rose joined the band on piano and keyboards, and was featured in their 2009 release entitled Tales of Absolution and Obsoletion
Tales of Absolution and Obsoletion
Tales of Absolution & Obsoletion is the 8th studio album by the gothic rock band The Awakening, released worldwide via Intervention Arts in June 2009.-Recording:...
. 2010 saw the release of a new fashion line featuring bustle skirts, bell sleeve tops, and other designs that Rose describes as "combining the elegance and extravagance of classic New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
and Gothic fashion
Gothic fashion
Gothic fashion is a clothing style worn by members of the Goth subculture; a dark, sometimes morbid, eroticized fashion and style of dress. Typical Gothic fashion includes dyed black hair, black lips and black clothes. Both male and female goths wear dark eyeliner and dark fingernails. Styles are...
with touches of Bohemian elegance and Lolita
Lolita fashion
is a fashion subculture originating in Japan that is based on Victorian-era clothing as well as costumes from the Rococo period, but the style has expanded greatly beyond these two. The Lolita look began primarily as one of modesty with a focus on quality in both material and manufacture of garments...
chic - updated and reinvented for the modern world."