A historic first for Diotima’s Rachel Scott
Published:Sunday | November 3, 2024 | 1:14 AMOmar Tomlinson - Contributor
Rachel Scott candidly admits that she had zero expectations of an American Womenswear Designer of the Year win at last Monday night’s 2024 Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Awards in New York City.
But fate and her industry peers were about to deliver the Jamaican designer’s three-year-old brand, Diotima, a seismic milestone.
“I was totally overwhelmed with emotion: shock, gratitude, happiness, and just a surge of adrenaline,” Scott gushed to The Sunday Gleaner from The Big Apple. “It wasn’t until the next day that I realised that I am the first black woman and Jamaican to have ever received this award. It’s humbling.”
Announced as the womenswear winner by awards presenter Oscar-winning actress Da’Vine Joy Randolph at the celebrity-stacked ceremony held at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan, Scott is, of course, still euphoric days after her unexpected triumph.
“I did not expect to win at all and was really just honoured to have been nominated. The other nominees are such major designers who I have the utmost respect for,” the Brooklyn resident designer told The Sunday Gleaner of her category competitors Marc Jacobs, Tory Burch, Thom Browne, and the Proenza Schouler duo of Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough.
Scott walked away with the Emerging Designer of the Year honours last year.
With the annual CFDA ceremony a veritable calling card of the who’s who in fashion and this year’s A-list attendees including entrepreneurs Kylie Jenner and Paris Hilton, actresses Blake Lively and Katie Holmes, and singers Tyla and Teyana Taylor, the womenswear designer victor is a reflection of how much her Diotima aesthetic is appreciated, and fast becoming highly coveted.
“I feel fully embraced by a very beautiful and growing community of designers changing the face of fashion and by the retailers that have supported me from the very beginning,” she disclosed.
Diotima devotees out as the cheering squad at last week’s glitzy CFDA event were fashion designer and activist Aurora James, global luxury and fashion executive Stephanie Horton, visual artist Mickalene Thomas, and luxury retailer Sherri McMullen, all seated at Scott’s table and clothed in her handcrafted, sensual brand.
Also around the table was Scott’s guest for the evening, Alva Claire, a British-Jamaican model. “She is incredible, and I love her work, so I was really elated when she agreed to be my guest,” the designer shared.
There was, too, supermodel Paloma Elsesser on Team Diotima. “Paloma reached out to me, and I was so honoured to dress her,” Scott disclosed.
Both plus-sized models, chic in Diotima, garnered major paparazzi mileage with their appearances, as did United Nations Goodwill Ambassador Sabrina Dhowre Elba, swathed in a backless, halter Diotima creation.
Quizzed as to whether she had any surprise celeb encounters in a sea of bold faces, Scott confessed that indeed, there was one.
“After winning the award, I saw [musician] Andre 3000 in the winners’ photo section and was totally starstruck. I called out to him, and he came over and gave me a hug. He was very kind,” she revealed.
Post-awards, Scott hopped over to Bedstuy, Brooklyn, for a joint surprise party with her designer friend Henry Zankov, who, incidentally, won Emerging Designer of the Year that evening. The celebratory soirée was hosted at the Jamaican watering hole, Lovers Rock.
And speaking of Jamaica, the designer, last on the island only weeks ago for artist Laura Facey’s exhibition, Portent, in Orange Hill, St Ann, thought it prudent to return home to endorse her friend’s latest endeavour.
“Laura was extremely generous in opening up her studio and work to me when we first collaborated, and so I was very excited to be able to, in turn, be there and participate in her show,” Scott shared.
As to what is brewing for Diotima’s next big act, the Jamaican designer said: “I’ve begun working on the Fall 2025 collection. Nothing is ever conceptualised in full and then executed. Ideas develop and evolve through the process of making. It’s a very interesting and fulfilling process for me.”
Now being heralded as the best in American womenswear, Scott pauses, as she did in her awards acceptance speech, to pay homage to where it all began. “My mother, Ruth, and the women in Jamaica who make the crochet are the heart and soul of the brand. I think about them with everything I do,” she reflected on a journey coming full circle.