13 November 2023 |
In Plato’s Symposium, Diotima is a prophetess who explains the concept of love to Socrates. It ascends from the lowest form, love of someone beautiful, to the highest – love of beauty itself. Rachel Scott named her brand after Diotima as a tribute to the German philosopher Herbert Marcuse’s interpretation of Diotima’s rules of love in Eros and Civilization. “He talks about the idea that you can sublimate desire and create culture,” Scott says. “For me, that’s incredibly beautiful.”
Diotima is Scott’s love letter to Jamaica. Born and raised in Kingston, she’s using her collection to create a solid and expansive connection between the Caribbean and luxury fashion, moving Jamaica beyond the narrow role it is often relegated to of being a backdrop or abstract reference. “People will shoot there with models and that’s where it ends,” Scott says. “I want to have an engagement as someone who’s from Jamaica.”
Scott started Diotima in 2021 with 16 years of experience in New York fashion, most recently at Rachel Comey, where she was VP of design. She has quickly defined Diotima as a blend of soft, sensual Caribbean handcraft and sleek, sporty New York sophistication. Hand-crocheted pieces – webby dresses, sporty bra tops, and body-skimming skirts – are closely developed with a group of women of varying skill levels scattered across Jamaica. Scott thinks about each of them personally when designing the collection. “It’s, ‘Well, this person can do this incredible thing, so we’ll make this stunning gown,’” she says. “But then I need to think about the other ladies.”Embracing the limitations and challenges of human scale creates unexpected beauty. “It’s something I’ve never seen anywhere else,” Scott says.
Mesh marina, the quintessential Jamaican tank often done in red, yellow, and green stripes, is reinterpreted in neutral chunky knits hand-embellished with gold details and delicate net tops embroidered with micro paillettes. Scott also works with Jamaica’s connection to British tailoring, adding hand-woven Harris Tweed blazers and pleated trousers to the mix. “Men would wear a suit with the button at the front of the pant open, the belts open, and then with the mesh tank and nothing underneath it,” she says. “It’s weirdly formal but sexy and undone. This tension happens.
Diotima expresses the spirit of Jamaica with more nuance and depth than the island typically gets credit for, and in a short amount of time Scott has connected the Caribbean with luxury fashion’s uppermost echelons. This year, Diotima was selected as an LVMH Prize finalist.
Taken from Issue 1 of 10 Magazine USA – FASHION, ICON, DEVOTEE – on newsstands now. Order your copy here.
THE FAB FIVE: DIOTIMA
Text JESSICA IREDALE
Photographer SOPHIA WILSON
Photographer’s assistant SHAM SCOTT
Production director JENNIFER BERK
