R.R. Memorandum 5 Year Retrospective

R.R.Memorandum recently turned 5 years old - a testament to the strength of character and determination of our founder and chief designer, Katherine Rose. This last half a decade has not been an easy one for much of the world, and Katherine is no exception. 

Born out of the ashes of a past of survival as an autistic domestic abuse survivor, Katherine first conceived of what would become R.R.Memorandum just before the Covid-19 pandemic. A lover of EGL fashion since a teenager, and having studied fashion design and creation at university, Katherine was commissioned by a friend to make a piece of old-school inspired EGL fashion. That is when she first fell in love with both old-school EGL both for its utility when compared to other alternative fashions and also more current releases of EGL fashion, and also for its design. Katherine began making her own old-school style pieces to build up a wardrobe of her own and to help her get back into making her own clothing after fashion school. 

In the year that followed, old-school EGL made a resurgence in popularity, with pieces from the late 1990s and early 2000s from Japanese EGL brands becoming highly sought after. At this point, Katherine was wearing her own old-school creations daily and posting her outfits on social media. To her surprise, her following on social media were interested in buying the things she was making. It was then that she decided, perhaps, developing a brand around the old-school style EGL fashion would be something she would pursue. 

R.R.Memorandum launched in spring 2020, with an unfortunate coinciding of the beginning of the pandemic. Though anxious about what that would mean for business, Katherine set to work building her brand from the ground up. Throughout the initial design-sew-market-release process, Katherine felt her confidence begin to grow as a fashion designer and sewist when time after time, the R.R.Memorandum website updates would not only sell out but would also bring a lot of traffic to the website from all over the world, indicating the demand for the clothing she was producing, Katherine decided to enrol in The King’s Trust to see if she could gain business skills to grow her brand. She took the Enterprise course online during the pandemic and was very grateful for the help and reassurance regarding how to proceed with developing the business. 

In 2021, with the knowledge she had learned from The King’s Trust and a greater understanding of her customer base through her first year running her business, Katherine was able to begin exploring what might be possible for her as a designer. This marked the conception of the Royal Crown Valerie and Heirloom Rose series’, which would be a joint release later that same year. It was also during this time (spring/summer 2021) that Katherine spent time pitching to investors, networking with studios and other industry professionals, allowing her to create her first studio-made series of garments. These garments were showcased and released for pre-order at the Regal Rose teaparty event in Norwich, which was a chance for Katherine to meet all her customers as well as other EGL indie brand owners and representatives. We also launched our first catalogue mook, ‘You Are Here’, featuring the story of R.R.Memorandum so far, photoshoots with models wearing the two debut design series, including local EGL wearers and j-fashion influencer Beckii Cruel. 

By early 2022, things were looking bright for Katherine and R.R. Memorandum, with her first international event lined up in France and new ‘Charlotte’ series already in production. Unfortunately, a major wrist and foot injury around the same time put plans on hold. More barriers to progress, such as price rises in the UK, making outsourcing factory production and materials much more of a challenge. However, facing these barriers to progress with tenacity, Katherine was able to design and make some beautiful one-off pieces in her home studio, and attended in-person local events to sell these, as well as items other indie brands had consigned R.R.Memorandum to sell. 

2023 saw things begin to look up for Katherine and R.R.Memorandum. The return of Hellocon and the extension of an invitation to attend, showcase and sell at an international event finally happened! 

“I loved meeting many more of our customers, european based and even those who had also traveled. Hellocon had been a dream of mine to attend since I started going to big events in 2013, so to be invited personally 10 years later in 2023 was a real privilege, and I got to meet and talk to some of the people who I had looked up to as a teenager. I was surprised to find out that actually I had become the one who some lolitas were looking up to, and it was a very heartwarming and humbling experience.” - Katherine Rose

For this event, Katherine designed and made in-house new pieces in the same vein as the original Royal Crown Valerie collection under the new name Jubilee Valerie, as well as showcasing her print-on-demand items and Charlotte series.

 

Despite health struggles and the sad loss her furry companion and R.R.Memorandum brand mascot, Rolo, Katherine persisted in 2024 to get further opportunities for the business. In June of that year, she brought the brand to The Queen is Dead, an old-school specific EGL event held in Manchester’s Victorian Baths. UK-based EGL events had been scarce over the last few years before and since the pandemic, so it was wonderful for Katherine to be able to showcase her creations once more in the country. Uniquely, the setting of the fashion show for this event was in the disused swimming pool of the baths - a very cool homage to the environments in which old-school Gothic and Lolita Bible shoots would have taken place. This was also another opportunity to meet more customers, who had travelled from all over the world and who were specifically old-school EGL fanciers. 

Back in the home of R.R.Memorandum, Norwich, Katherine collaborated with local friend Jess of Bittersweet Bunny Atelier, selling at the famous local market as a pop-up stall over the festive period, which was a chance to sell in-person locally once more. Additionally, Katherine was able to live a childhood dream recently of making costumes for a national ballet production, giving her a massive confidence boost while watching a whole stage of dancers wearing costumes she had made for them.

She has also been awarded the opportunity to be a Young Ambassador for The King’s Trust, which is a role that sees her travelling to various parts of the country to speak to audiences as an example of how young people can achieve their goals from doing the course.

“I felt that [The King’s Trust] played a key role in helping me move forward after abuse and through disability.” - Katherine Rose

 

What’s next for Katherine and R.R.Memorandum? Well, the brand is currently preparing for our first USA based event in Fanime. The webshop has been given a new lick of paint with a sleek new look inspired by our home studio. Katherine is working on some pieces she’s looking forward to debuting, and is planning new photoshoots and some surprises that R.R.Memorandum can look forward to over the next year or so. Katherine also aspires to start a new specialist studio closer to home, and has even bigger dreams for the brand as a whole. Katherine will also continue her work for The King’s Trust at events to inspire the next generation to take their path into their own hands.