Kate Lambert
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Kate Lambert, known professionally as "Kato", is a British model, fashion designer, singer and entrepreneur. A native of Wales, Kato emigrated to the United States in 2007. She became a US citizen in 2019. One of the most recognisable faces of the steampunk community, Kato has been called "the supermodel of steampunk" and steampunk's "it" girl. Steampunk comic heroine Lady Mechanika was inspired by her look, and her work has been featured in several books on steampunk art and fashion including ''International Steampunk Fashions'', where her photo is featured prominently on the cover. Kato was also on the cover of the August 2014 issue of '' Bizarre'' Magazine, which referred to her as a "steampunk idol" and "
pin-up A pin-up model (known as a pin-up girl for a female and less commonly male pin-up for a male) is a model whose mass-produced pictures see widespread appeal as part of popular culture. Pin-up models were variously glamour models, fashion models ...
legend". She also appeared on the cover of the Spring 2012 issue of ''FEY'' Magazine, and also the covers of September 2012 ''Ladies of Steampunk'' and April 2013 ''LoSP Bronze Age'' (
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) magazines. In July 2016 she was on the cover of ''Phantasm'' Magazine's steampunk issue, where she was referred to as "The Queen of Steam". Kato is a frequent guest speaker at steampunk conventions, most recently Wild Wild West Con in
Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...
and Salt City Steamfest in
Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
.


Background

Kato is the third of four daughters born to wildlife painter Terence Lambert and his wife, a school headmistress/principal. She grew up in a Victorian rectory behind a 13th-century cemetery, and credits this for her love of Victorian style. She left school at 16 and finished her final two years at a tech college where she could specialise in fine art. She then went on to complete a course in fashion and textiles at the South West Wales School of Art in Carmarthen. After graduating she launched her first business, called Moshka, where she made and sold dread hair falls online and at craft fairs and markets throughout Wales.


Career


Modelling and inspiration

Early in her modelling career, Kato modelled for Toxico clothing with
Ulorin Vex Ulorin Vex is the stage name of Christiane Shillito, an alternative model and artist from Newcastle upon Tyne, England. She lives in Los Angeles, California. Her extensive list of credits include dozens of magazine features and covers, ad campai ...
, and later with Chad Michael Ward. In 2004 she began designing and making outfits that had a Neo-Victorian and
post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; ast ...
vibe, then modelled them herself and posted them on MySpace. Her inspiration at that time was the 1800s meets ''
Mad Max ''Mad Max'' is an Australian post-apocalyptic action film series and media franchise created by George Miller and Byron Kennedy. It began in 1979 with '' Mad Max'', and was followed by three sequels: ''Mad Max 2'' (1981, released in the Unite ...
'' and ''
Tank Girl ''Tank Girl'' is a British comic book character created by Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett, and first appeared in print in 1988 in the British comics magazine ''Deadline''. After a period of intense popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s, ...
'', but she didn't know what to call her style until former
Abney Park Abney Park is in Stoke Newington, London, England. It is a park dating from just before 1700, named after Lady Abney, the wife of Sir Thomas Abney, Lord Mayor of London in 1700 and one of the first directors of the Bank of England and associat ...
vocalist Magdalene Veen noticed her work and pointed out "how Steampunk" her illustrations and style were.


Fashion design

In 2007, Kato founded the first steampunk clothing company, "Steampunk Couture", producing high-quality, custom-fit clothing and accessories catering specifically to the steampunk genre. Her designs incorporate post-apocalyptic and tribal influences as well as
sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...
,
shabby chic Shabby chic is a style of interior design where furniture and furnishings are either chosen for their appearance of age and signs of wear and tear or where new items are distressing, distressed to achieve the appearance of an antique. At the sa ...
and
Harajuku is a district in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Harajuku is the common name given to a geographic area spreading from Harajuku Station to Omotesando, corresponding on official maps of Shibuya ward as Jingūmae 1 chōme to 4 chōme. In popular refere ...
/ Mori girl elements. One of her more popular ensembles, the "Vex" outfit, was named after model Ulorin Vex, who modelled it on the Steampunk Couture website. In 2006, Kato, then head of steampunk/industrial musician
Doctor Steel Rion Vernon, known by his stage name Doctor Steel (full name, Doctor Phineas Waldolf Steel) is an American musician and internet personality from Los Angeles. He performed on rare occasions with a "backup band", claiming that a fictitious robot b ...
's fan club, the " Army of Toy Soldiers", founded ''Toy Soldiers Unite!'', the club's website. Besides running the site as "Sergeant Kato", she also designed all the club's uniforms, as well as creating the security guard and nurse uniforms worn by Steel's stage performers. In 2011, when Dr. Steel retired, Kato turned over control of Toy Soldiers Unite to its current administrators. In 2010, Kato designed the outfit for the character "Enki" in
John Soares John Soares is an American film director, actor, editor, and fight choreographer. He is best known for his martial arts fight choreography in ''Sockbaby'', ''Go Sukashi!'', and ''The Danger Element''. Early life Soares was born in Turlock, Cali ...
' dieselpunk action series, ''The Danger Element'', as well as playing the voice of the car, the "Jitnimobile". In 2013, Flirty Girl Collectibles issued a 1/6 scale collectible action figure of her wearing the "Vex" outfit. In 2014, her Steampunk Couture clothing line became available throug
DraculaClothing.com
She also consolidated all her businesses and clothing lines under the S Corporation name, "Lambee Co.", and teamed with fashion designer Vera Iam to create two new lines of shoes and boots.


Other projects

In 2013, Kato started Steamgirl LLC, a
multi-media Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to traditio ...
neo-Victorian fashion
erotica Erotica is literature or art that deals substantively with subject matter that is erotic, sexually stimulating or sexually arousing. Some critics regard pornography as a type of erotica, but many consider it to be different. Erotic art may use ...
site and the first subscription site for steampunk erotica. Besides designing the clothing the models on her site wear, she also builds steampunk and neo-Victorian furniture, props, and hardware as well as doing all the hair and makeup for the shoots. Kato is also a writer for Ladies of Steampunk and LoSP Bronze Age magazines, and was featured in LoSP's premiere issue. She also teamed with photographer Chloe Barcelou and launched Mori Girl Clothing, the first Mori Kei clothing company outside Japan. She is currently also working on a graphic novel. In August 2015, Kato became one of the official judges of the GSN
reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early ...
game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, ...
series '' Steampunk'd''.


DK-Zero

In July 2017 Kato formed a punk/industrial band, "DK-Zero", with Derek Brown of
Abney Park Abney Park is in Stoke Newington, London, England. It is a park dating from just before 1700, named after Lady Abney, the wife of Sir Thomas Abney, Lord Mayor of London in 1700 and one of the first directors of the Bank of England and associat ...
. In 2018 they released their debut album, “From Nothing.” Their first full-length music video, "iFeel", passed 100,000 views on
YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
in just three months. Her band took the main stage at
Wave Gotik Treffen The Wave-Gotik-Treffen (WGT; ) is an annual world festival for "dark" music and "dark culture" in Leipzig, Germany. 150+ bands and artists from various backgrounds ( gothic rock, gothic metal, EBM, industrial, noise, darkwave, neo-folk, neo- ...
in 2019, and was also a headliner at
Wasteland Weekend Wasteland Weekend is an annual festival held in Edwards, California. The event is listed as a full immersion event, with all participants required to adhere to the set theme. It has been held annually in September since 2010, except for 2020, whe ...
later that year. She is no longer with the band.


References


External links


Kato's modeling portfolio

Kato on Model Mayhem

Steampunk Couture

SteamGirl

Kate Lambert on IMDb
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lambert, Kate 1983 births Living people British expatriates in the United States Welsh fashion designers Welsh female models 21st-century Welsh women artists Artists from California People from Loma Linda, California British women fashion designers