Diotima honours legacy with ‘Nine Night’

Jamaican-born, Brooklyn resident fashion designer Rachel Scott had her Caribbean roots and death on the mind for her new Spring/Summer 2024 collection of her Diotima brand.

Unveiled last Monday afternoon at Agora Gallery in West Chelsea, Manhattan, Scott’s presentation of her latest Diotima collection titled, ‘Nine Night’ which was inspired by the pre-funeral tradition of honouring the dead, featured both womenswear and menswear separates of fabulous gowns, cool crochet, sheer knits, skirts, easy khakis, and tank tops executed with her trademark craftsmanship. With four Jamaican faces from SAINT International (Barbra Lee Grant, Romaine Dixon, Winston Lawrence and Selah McHail) among the models cast parading about the gallery space, Scott’s brilliantly rendered wardrobe of multiple looks celebrated her Caribbean ancestry with European fashion sensibilities.

“This collection started as a collaboration with Jamaican artist Laura Facey, and her work is installed in the gallery space today. Her work explores the ongoing legacy of colonialism and slavery,” Scott, who was a nominee in this year’s Council of Fashion Designers of America/ Vogue Fashion Fund competition revealed to Essence magazine in a recent interview ahead of the presentation.

Keen to broaden the conversation surrounding her lineage that factors in her design aesthetic, Scott noted “I think we’re often shown in this exoticised, very simplistic way. I’m always trying to show the complexities, show the tensions in garments, but also in how we’re presented.”

Facey’s artisan work featured too in the wardrobe presentation as a fist-sized wooden human heart belt, earrings, and necklace accessories she designed were worn by a number of the models and a caftan based on one of her silk drawings made the collection’s final cut.