In its ongoing quest to support young emerging designers, Exhibition is celebrating the Lithuanian label Urte Kat.
Blessed with "lucky girl syndrome", the young designer Urte Katiliute founded her contemporary label born "almost accidentally" in Lithuania in 2019 during the COVID crisis. Since then, her mottos have remained the same: subversion, craftsmanship, and fun.
Hi Urte. Did you always wanted to be a fashion designer?
I always wanted to do something related to fashion, but was quite embarrassed by this when I was a teenager. I thought I should have more serious dreams than fashion. I decided to do fashion design studies after high school graduation, I did not really put a lot of thought into it. I just didn’t feel like I had a lot of options as I was not a good student, but was good at drawing. The journey was almost accidental and nothing was ever planned or strategic.
When did you decide to follow this path?
During my BA studies, I went to London to do some internships, after those I stayed in London and tried to find a design role while working as a waitress. Sent out resumes everyday, got some replies, but nothing led to anything. I came back to Lithuania, feeling quite defeated, met up with a friend, who casually asked if I was running a brand now, and so I decided to do that. The first year, I was selling my designs on Depop, making them myself at home. It would take me around 3-4 days to make a pair of trousers. When Covid happened, the brand got picked up by instagram algorithm - I think this happened to a lot of DIY brands during the first months of Covid - and everything went up from there.
What is the DNA of your brand?
It's the result of my search for an identity. Every collection is very different from another in my eyes, which I know is not the way to go, but I just want the process to be fun and stress free. At the end of the day, it's just clothes. I’ve always been obsessed with makeovers, fresh starts, and new beginnings. Every collection is like a new beginning for me. I like them to be different every time. The brand is focused on subverting luxury by sticking to a made to order model. We make amazing quality clothing and leather accessories and charge the least amount of money we can get away with. I want quality designer clothing to be accessible and I honestly despise the notion of a 900 euros polyester/wool mix trouser, I think it is laughable no matter the name.
Where do you find inspiration?
Mostly on the internet. I nourish my creativity by taking care of myself and resting, I only feel creative once all the basic needs are met.
Can you describe your creative process?
It’s different every time, sometimes it starts with a print, a sketch, or a mood. For the SS25 collection, I was mostly focused on the mood. I imagined myself at 14 designing for a dream fashion girl, and had so much fun. I try to not put too much pressure on myself and the team. I've seen what stressing about clothes does to people and want to keep away from that vibe as much as possible by aiming for a soft life. If it’s not fun, what's the point? I used to think about a lot of other things in the process, I wanted the brand to appear serious, slick, chic. Not like an IG brand. I literally do not care about any of this anymore, I want to give people a nice place to work at and cool clothes to wear.
What designers do you admire?
So many. Alexander Mcqueen, Miguel Adrover, Martin Margiela, Miuccia Prada to name a few.
How do you imagine your brand in a few years?
I can show you the manifestation board.
Do you have a mantra in life?
I have lucky girl syndrome and believe everything always works out for the best.
If you could describe your brand in three words?
Cool, fun, quality.
