LVMH Prize Finalist Diotima Blends Jamaican Heritage With Sustainability
LVMH Prize finalist Rachel Scott is bringing Jamaica's craftsmanship to the world with her fashion brand Diotima.
Photography by Deirdre Lewis
In March, Rachel Scott returned home to Jamaica, fresh off of showcasing her brand Diotima in the semifinal round of fashion’s prestigious LVMH Prize in Paris. Her first order of business: to check in with the Kingston craftswomen whose crochetwork has become a fundamental element of her designs.
“They wanted to see all the pictures,” Scott explains, speaking over Zoom from her home on the island. “They want to hear what people have to say about their work. They’re really proud that there’s value being placed on their labor.”
During the LVMH Prize voting rounds, Scott presented her creations, and by proxy, that of Jamaica’s crocheters, to jury members that included Jonathan Anderson of Loewe, Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri, and Marc Jacobs—an intimidating lineup for any young designer. Afterward, Scott, the first semifinalist from Jamaica, was named one of the nine finalists, in the running for the prize of 300,000 Euros and LVMH mentorship, to be announced June 7. But if Scott is nervous, she doesn’t show it. Instead, she’s energized, invigorated by the feedback she received from the jury, and determined to bring her work to the world stage.
Scott first moved to the U.S. from Kingston to study French and art at Colgate University. After graduating in 2006, Scott studied fashion design at Milan’s Istituto Marangoni, and then traveled between Europe and the U.S., working as a designer for brands like J.Mendel and Elizabeth & James. When she launched Diotima in 2021, Scott was still working full-time as VP of Design at Rachel Comey, pursuing her own brand on the side. Soon, juggling both became unsustainable. Now, she focuses solely on Diotima and travels between New York and Kingston, respectively the business and creative hubs of her work.
Scott is lofty in her conception of her brand. Even the name, Diotima, is one with layered nuance—referencing Ancient Greek and modern German-American philosophy. In Plato’s Symposium, Diotima is a priestess who explains the mysteries of love to Socrates, an idea Scott finds “beautiful in and of itself.” What ultimately drew her to adopt the name for her brand was how Diotima’s position on love and culture was further developed by philosopher Herbert Marcuse in Eros and Civilization. “He talks about this idea of a non-repressive sublimation of love to build culture, and I just think that’s so incredible,” she explains.
Diotima is a brand steeped in Caribbean roots, New York energy, and a desire to imbue a sense of luxury through time and thoughtfulness. Avoiding the tropes of nostalgic Jamaican style, Scott sees it as forward-looking and focused on construction and craft, but in a way that’s artfully approachable. Ruffled crochet spills down a pair of textured trousers, while oversized doilies are transformed into delicately spiderwebbed tops and dresses. “It’s less about actual garments, and more of a spirit of how people dress; it’s a very cool attitude.”
Crochet is a craft that must be done by hand. Due to its intricate nature, machines are unable to recreate the delicate stitches. A single doily takes a day and a half of labor, so new material can only be created as fast as the hand can work. “People would refer to the crochet as resortwear,” she explains. “I don’t know how I feel about that. Should it be more serious?” To Scott, the creation is more couture than it is basic beachwear.
In Diotima’s world, luxury is in process, time, and detail. Typically, clothes are constructed from sketches, swatch developments, and samples. But Scott’s method starts with her materials.
Crocheted pieces are first made by hand by artisans in Kingston, and then draped by Scott. “I start with their stitches and start manipulating them and playing with them on the body,” she explains. “I end up in places that I don’t expect. It’s respectful of [the artisans’] desires and how they want to work, but then also is pushing me to try and learn new things in the process.”
Scott also works with heritage handmade tweeds from Scotland, a nod to the diaspora between the Caribbean and the UK. Scott sees her work as an opportunity to highlight the dissonance and harmony inherent in this relationship, utilizing crochet, tweeds, and suiting fabrics together, and challenging the traditional value placed on tailoring as the defining factor of luxury. “I’m excited to push this idea that slow fashion is about the value that is luxury. Because I don’t know what’s more luxurious than something that’s handmade by someone.”
Sustainability has become the buzzword du jour among fashion brands big and small. But customers are increasingly looking past the greenwashing, and asking harder questions. “It’s very easy for someone like Zara to say that they have sustainable material. And what does that mean exactly?” says Scott. “So they’re using recycled water bottles, but they’re producing thousands of garments. It’s very easy to miss the point and to say you’re working sustainably when you’re not.”
Scott doesn’t believe it’s possible to talk about sustainability without considering those who actually make the clothes. “The people who are going to be affected by climate change are in the Global South, and are most of the time doing the labor in fashion, at least on a massive scale,” she explains.
Due to the time-consuming and intricate nature of Diotima’s designs, there is no overproduction; artisans will always need to be employed in order to produce the clothes. Scott shies away from the traditional venture capital backing or expectations of exponential growth. “It’s me and these women; they depend on me,” she explains. “I’ve been growing, but in a way that’s manageable and slow. One day we’ll have a team.” She also imagines expanding the world of Diotima beyond her clothing, creating a greater community within Jamaica. It’s a callback to her interest in Marcusian theory—culture over capitalism, art as social critique.
Whether Scott wins this year’s LVMH Prize or not, the process has given her the resolve to continue her vision for all of the things Diotima can be. “Because I have conviction, I can be bolder with what I’m doing and not be afraid to speak within my language. People can understand the narrative I’m trying to build. I feel a sense of comfort within that, but [also] confidence that I can push my ideas a bit further.”
