Philosophical Greek heroine Diotima taught Socrates about the art of love, so it’s no surprise then that a namesake fashion label, founded by Jamaican Rachel Scott, is receiving international adoration.
Love is the moving force behind everything that Scott does. Not only has the creation of the Diotima label been a labour of love, but it is also the guiding principle as to why she’s intentional about working and collaborating with creatives all over the Caribbean.
Diotima launched in May 2021, at a time when many would have hoped the COVID-19 pandemic would be ending and immediately stuck out among other brands for its use of crochet and exquisite tailoring. The brand is inspired by everything from Dancehall Queen Carlene, Shabba Ranks, and the uniforms children wear to school to images of Caribbean women from 200 years ago. “I keep thinking about this as a trans-historical project. I’m always trying to not work within one specific time, but across times and thinking towards the future,” says Scott, a Campion College alumna.
Seated in her Brooklyn New York apartment, Scott reveals that Diotima is something she had been planning on doing for a long time, but that the pandemic serendipitously pushed her to make it happen. “I think practically the only reason it happened was that I was physically stuck in my apartment. Had I not had this physical break from being in the studio (Scott also works for Rachel Comey), I would not have had the capacity to break away from that.” Uncertain if there was space for a voice like hers, the Black Lives Matter movement and the uproar over the death of George Floyd helped her to realise the importance of adding her point of view and that there was indeed room for her expression. She was cognisant that she wanted the line to infuse crochet made in Jamaica and had begun meeting with local knitting artists back in 2019, so with the pandemic, she thought, “let me just try this now”.
Diotima’s crochet is a far cry from your grandmother’s doilies. “I love crochet. It’s so beautiful. There are so many things you can do with it. The crochet in the Caribbean looks nothing like anything else I’ve worked with, and it can’t be done by machine. There is something very important about knowing how to make things by hand and preserving this knowledge. So if there is any way that I can help to keep it vibrant, then I think it is important,” says Scott.
The 38-year-old Capricorn admits, “I’ve learned a lot about myself in the last couple years. I’ve learned how feminine I am. I’m learning,” but is adamant that Diotima isn’t just about her. With the recent drop of the Diotima pre-fall 2022 collection, Scott joined forces with St Vincentian artist Nadia Huggins on a ‘Tropiques’ print. She also lauds stylist, friend and fellow Jamaican Anatolli Smith for playing a major role in the brand.
The visuals for the pre-fall 2022 collection were shot here in Jamaica by Scott’s husband Josh Kolbo at four locations, including The National Gallery and the famed Prim Rock, where the collection engages our evolving notions of – poiesis – what it means to make in our time – with a particular emphasis on collaboration and social relations.
She met model and trans-fashion activist Emani Edwards and make-up artist Shauna-K Avoir at a dinner in New York hosted by DeVonn Francis for Connek Ja, which is run by Chaday Emmanuel and Christopher Udemezue to connect Jamaicans and Caribbeans in the diaspora back to their home, and knew Edwards and Avoir would be a great addition for the shoot. “Whatever I can do to put forth a new vision of the Caribbean, and working with people from the Caribbean, that is important to me,” says Scott. “We need everyone represented.”
With hopes of eventually spending more of her time in Jamaica, when asked if she’s always wanted to be a designer, Scott is quick to point out that she would always make clothes as a teenager to go out, and even though she actually took a long route of getting into fashion by firstly studying languages, she always knew that this is what she wanted to do.
Our conversation turns to sustainability. “The nature of what I make is not something that can be enormous. I don’t think that that is the way that fashion needs to move forward. There is so much waste, and it is just not sustainable. There needs to be respect,” she says. “In every way, I need to avoid that [waste] because it’s not the way we should be working in fashion anymore.”
As to how she sees the brand evolving? “I would love to find other crafts in Jamaica and the Caribbean to work with. It is my goal.”