2023 was a giant 12 months for designer Rachel Scott. Regardless of launching her model Diotima solely two years earlier, she was runner-up for the CFDA/Vogue Trend Fund, a finalist for the LVMH Prize, and earned the celebrated American rising designer award on the CFDAs. Reflecting on these large wins, Rachel candidly informed Vogue’s market editor Naomi Elizée: “Thank God. I’ve payments to pay.”

Rachel and Naomi reunited on the Vogue podcast studio to debate the aesthetics and inspirations behind Diotima. (Each a good friend and a fan, Naomi not too long ago wore a crystal-embellished Diotima gown to her celebration.) To Rachel, her designs exude sensuality; she underscored the intimate craftsmanship behind each bit, handmade by artisans in Jamaica. Crochet is on the coronary heart of her work, and though it’s a way usually handed down from grandmother to mom in Jamaica, Rachel realized it on her personal.

On the finish of their dialog, the pair regarded again on Rachel’s upbringing in Kingston in the course of the late Nineteen Eighties and early ’90s, when she noticed folks put on mesh marinas and Clarks sneakers and regarded as much as dancehall legends Woman Noticed (recognized now as Marion Corridor) and Carlene “Dancehall Queen” Smith. It’s that colourful background, she feels, that’s given her an edge.