It’s incredible to think that Rachel Scott launched Diotima a little over four years ago. Since then she has been named a runner-up at the 2023 edition of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund—the same year that she won the CFDA award for Emerging Designer. She won the CFDA Womenswear Designer award the following year. Then, just three weeks ago, Scott was announced as the new creative director at Proenza Schouler, following the departure of the label’s founders: she showed her terrific debut for the label two days ago. Today she took Diotima to the runway for the first time, delivering a collection that vindicated her swift rise but also made it plain that she’s really just getting started. (Yes, those color-blocked pumps, embellished sandals, and minimal thongs were part of her own shoe collection launching in the spring.)
Inside a cavernous space in Greenpoint, with the walls haphazardly collaged in silver paper and paint, we heard the murmur of a crowd and the sounds of steel pans first. A model walked out in a white crochet tank over a white bandeau top, matching white crochet balloon trousers layered underneath a skirt with cascading ruffles, and a crochet hood over her head. Her face was smeared with silver powder across her temples and into her hair. Scott was taking us to carnival for spring.
“Last fall I was super angry—and I’m still angry, but the manifestation of it is very different,” she said a few days before her show at her Chinatown studio. “I was looking at carnival in the Caribbean and the diaspora as this moment of resistance against repressive forces. It’s a moment of resistance that’s rooted in exuberance, joy, and sensuality, and is against any form of domination.” Specifically, she looked to the carnival in Trinidad, and to the characters that inhabit it for inspiration. “It’s another reason we wanted to do a runway, because a carnival is a procession—it’s a storm through the space,” she added. But you won’t find any literal interpretations of traditional costumes. Scott instead zeroed in on the different details that distinguish them: strange color pairings like guava and lime green or neon pink and gray; and the general shapes and silhouettes of the costumes. She transposed all of them into modern clothes that women can—and more crucially *will—*wear out in their real lives. From the Baby Doll came a short sleeve jacket with a tonal melted paillette trim and a red skirt made from fake feathers with a contrasting macrame “peplum” around the waist. The sailor character who often leads the processions led to square sailor collars appeared in unexpected places, like on matte jersey tops with a tubular chenille trim that undulated around the body—sure to be one of the iconic pieces of the season.
But Scott had the most fun when she took on the traditional carnival cage bras, which almost completely bare the body while simultaneously molding and outlining. She transposed the bras into tailored jackets with extra-deep portrait collars paired with wide leg trousers, all teeming with sex appeal and power. She also introduced bikinis and luxe long-sleeve swimwear in her signature micro-sequin design. Elsewhere, traditional feathers were mimicked through “shredded rayon bits” that came alive as the models walked through the space. Scott has never been one to shy away from showing the body in her designs; carnival provided the perfect framework in which to push herself towards new territory.
“Carnival is super sensual,” Scott said. “It’s a very erotic moment in the public sphere and it kind of resists any kind of heteronormativity.” Halfway through the show, the sound of Yoko Ono’s moaning in the throes of passion (taken from one of the tracks on John and Yoko’s album Double Fantasy, “Kiss Kiss Kiss”) filled the room—it was cheeky and it did send electric currents throughout the audience as the orgasmic sounds became more obvious. After the show ended, another designer who was in attendance said, “That was so great—girls having fun!” We were.