Rose Mortem is an American

fashion designer Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...

, musician, model, and entrepreneur. Rose is most widely known for her dark romantic fashion stylings and as a member of the

Gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie a ...

band The Awakening. She is a graduate of

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Launching in 1998, the Rose Mortem fashion label was featured in several publications including

Mick Mercer Mick Mercer (born Bichael Bercer, 2 June 1957) is a journalist and author best known for his books, photos and reviews of the goth, punk and indie music scenes. Life and work Mercer is primarily a writer focused on the gothic scene and its mus ...

's cult classic, ''21st Century Goth''. Her work was frequently featured in

goth subculture Goth is a music-based subculture that began in the United Kingdom during the early 1980s. It was developed by fans of Gothic rock, an offshoot of the post-punk music genre. The name ''Goth'' was derived directly from the genre. Notable post-p ...

magazines including

Gothic Beauty ''Gothic Beauty'' is an American magazine established by editor Steven Holiday in the fall of 2000 after the success of the Internet social group of the same name. ''Gothic Beauty'' covers numerous aspects of underground culture including fashion, ...

Cynfeirdd Medieval Welsh literature is the literature written in the Welsh language during the Middle Ages. This includes material starting from the 5th century AD, when Welsh was in the process of becoming distinct from Common Brittonic, and continuing t ...

Terrorizer Terrorizer is an American grindcore band formed in 1986 in Los Angeles, California. After disbanding, its members gained recognition by playing in influential extreme metal bands, such as Morbid Angel ( David Vincent, Pete Sandoval), Napalm D ...

, and

Fangoria ''Fangoria'' is an internationally distributed American horror film fan magazine, in publication since 1979. It is published four times a year by Fangoria Publishing, LLC and is edited by Phil Nobile Jr. The magazine was originally released i ...

. Rose also created fashions for independent films and theatre productions, and live performers of varying kinds including members of several bands, symphonies, operas and chamber music ensembles. Use of velvets, chiffons, satins, tulles and lace with sharply angled hemlines and layered skirting became the label's trademark style. As a musician, Rose is linked most notably with

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie a ...

band The Awakening of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

and has been married to the band's front man

Ashton Nyte Ashton Nyte is a South African-born singer, songwriter, producer, composer, author, actor, and frontman of the gothic rock band The Awakening (band), The Awakening. Nyte has released seven solo albums, in addition to eleven albums as The Awakeni ...

since 2009. In addition to live touring, she is credited with taking several of the band's album photographs and has filmed and appeared in many of their music videos. According to interviews with Rose, her designs are inspired greatly by musicians, ranging widely in style, from

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

Loretta Lynn Loretta Lynn (; April 14, 1932 – October 4, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. In a career spanning six decades, Lynn released multiple gold albums. She had numerous hits such as " You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My M ...

. The designer also draws on her studies of

Bohemianism Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people and with few permanent ties. It involves musical, artistic, literary, or spiritual pursuits. In this context, bohemians may be wanderers, a ...

, Dark Romanticism, and love for the literature, art and music of the

Decadent movement The Decadent movement (Fr. ''décadence'', “decay”) was a late-19th-century artistic and literary movement, centered in Western Europe, that followed an aesthetic ideology of excess and artificiality. The Decadent movement first flourished ...

. 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 ''Tales of Absolution & Obsoletion'' is the eighth studio album by South African gothic rock band The Awakening, released worldwide via Intervention Arts in June 2009. Recording The Awakening's eighth full-length studio album released June 2009 ...

and the single Fault released on the band's 2014

Anthology XV ''Anthology XV'' is a compilation album by South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlanti ...

compilation. Rose describes her latest fashion since joining The Awakening as "combining the elegance and extravagance of classic New Wave and

Gothic fashion Gothic fashion is a clothing style marked by dark, mysterious, antiquated, homogenous, and often genderless features. It is worn by members of the Goth subculture. clothing, Dress, typical gothic fashion includes dyed black hair, exotic hairsty ...

with touches of

Bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

elegance and

Lolita ''Lolita'' is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is notable for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator, a middle-aged literature professor under the pseudonym Humbert Humber ...

chic — updated and reinvented for the modern world." In a 2015

magazine feature, the artist states her latest fashion stylings are directly inspired by her most recent music collaborations with rocker husband

. In 2019, Rose Mortem announced to fans that she was taking a hiatus from running her company; in 2021, she announced that after twenty years, she was stopping work in fashion to focus on music and her chosen field of Industrial-Organizational Psychology.

References

External links

Rose Mortem Official Site
*
The Awakening Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mortem, Rose Gothic fashion American women fashion designers American fashion designers Harvard University alumni

See also

References

External links