Introducing Refinery29’s Powerhouses of 2024

To wear a piece from Diotima is to wear a piece of designer and founder Rachel Scott’s (she/her) personal history. Launched in 2021 and featuring seasonally interchangeable pieces like striped cotton-crepe A-line midi skirts and crystal-encrusted mesh knit tanks, the brand is crafted between Scott’s native Jamaica and her home base of New York. Focusing on crochet, a technique with deep ties to the Caribbean, Scott “tries to emphasize labor, supporting and strengthening artisan communities,” as she said in a recent interview for Nordstrom, and creates “moments of tension in color, texture, and silhouette.” In doing so, the designer pushes back against stereotypes of what style from the region looks like by fusing traditional and contemporary pieces adored by celebrities like Keke Palmer, Doja Cat, and Gabrielle Union. After a big 2023, which saw Scott win the CFDA Emerging Designer Award, she debuted a stunning spring 2024 collection at New York Fashion Week. And what about the next five years? “The collections will be more exciting and new than ever, as we continue to reposition craft,” she tells R29. “We might even get a retail space in NYC.” We’ll be first in line when it opens.

Photo credit: Deirdre Lewis