Who am I? Botter Fall Winter 2023 and the hybrid culture of Caribbean youth

Venus Comb, Murex Shell: Botter FW 2023 features a 3D printed sneakers produced in collaboration with Reebok and inspired by the Murex seashell

Botter on cultural diversity. Who am I?

Who am I? Three words, a question that 2018 Andam winners Lisi Herrebrugh and Rushemy Botter want to answer while thinking about Caribbean culture. Where am I from? Botter finds solid ground this season in reaching the young Caribbean generation by creating a new whole world made of different waves of art, perspective and mixing cultures.

The pair wanted the collection to be a celebration of the hybrid culture, mixed influences, codes and colors to bring forward the brand’s Caribbean couture spirit. Rushemy Botter and his partner in life and work Herrebrugh are clued up on the vision of clothing as cultural diversity. He was born in Curaçao, a Dutch – Caribbean Island off the coast of Venezuela, but grew up near Amsterdam before studying at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, where designers including Dries van Noten and Martin Margiela studied.

With his masters’ collection, in 2017 he launched Botter together with Lisi Herrebrugh. A graduate of the Amsterdam Fashion Institute, who grew up in Holland with a Dutch father and Dominican mother and developed technical skills as an intern at Viktor &Rolf. Botter’s identity combines its Caribbean background as well as its glance towards Arte Povers’s philosophy, with a strong sustainability consciousness. This season they approach fashion with their self -proclaimed Caribbean spirit, creating something from nothing. 

Botter Fall Winter 2023 at Paris Fashion Week

Botter’s Fall/Winter 2023 runway collection showcased during Paris Fashion Week continues to bring the energy inspired by the designer’s culture and diaspora.  The label is recognized for its blending of couture and sporty motifs into vibrant designs, which give a nod to the environment. 

Spring Summer 2023 collection, an homage to Mother Earth

For the Spring Summer 2023 collection, the creative duo paid homage to Mother Earth through oceanic references and plenty of water: the brand’s signature blue hue was blasted across the collection alongside contrasting blacks, browns and oranges. This season, the pair picked up where they left off during the spring, refined their silhouettes even further. They were kept simple and clean, with worn-out details to blend with the codes of the season.  This time, Botter revealed a winter version of the color palette, expanding its blue brand color inspired by the turquoise Caribbean Sea for its sweaters and blazers. Earth tones were introduced in utilitarian, multi-pocketed blazers and jackets. 

The attention was focused on a section that unbuttoned from the waistband; the motifs cropped up repeatedly in Botter’s fall collection, as in the black tailoring with blazer stripped back across the shoulder line to reveal a checked breast panel, as well as on ribbed round-neck sweaters and on a black silk maxi dress. 

Trousers turned upside down to become tops, a knit top looked like it could be a bustier or a cardigan, depending on what the moment called for. 

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Venus Comb, Murex Shell

Innovation is what the duo are looking for. The kelp textile they used for spring, is found again this season, mixed together with cotton to comprise tactile knitwear. But in terms of novelty (and focused on how to clean up the world) the collection featured futuristic 3D-printed sneakers (an evolution from Botter’s Banker shoe from 2017) produced in collaboration with Reebok and inspired by the Murex seashell. 

As suggested by the caption of Botter Fall Winter 2023 invitation, the Murex seashell is named after the Greek Goddess Venus, who is said to have used this shell to comb her hair. Eye-catching colors, tailored silhouettes, and inventing constructions reflected the Caribbean couture concept and sustainable ethos the creative duo is intended in carrying out. 

Botter on social and environmental problems

«We want to give back to nature as much as possible, and not just take from it» After leaving Nina Ricci’s creative direction in 2021, the artistic duo won the Andam fashion award 2022: they accepted the prize with the promise to use those resources in innovative and sustainable projects.

Every collection they conceive is the result of a long study on how to do better for the world and how they can do it not only within the fashion industry. According to Rushemy Botter and Lisi Herrebrugh, changing people’s mindset is not so easy. What is useful is thinking of innovation as the synergy with non -fashion companies.

Recently they started to partner with Parly for the Oceans, an organization committed to cleaning our seas of plastic while preserving their biodiversity. In 2020, Botter launched their Coral Reef Farm on Curaçao in collaboration with a local dive company, to fight against the global bleaching problem of the coral reef through fashion. On many islands, coral reefs are dying due to climate disruption, under the unconcerned eye of mass tourism.

Ocean plastic and non-renewable resources

That is why the couple consider fashion as an art form that needs to reveal what is really happening in the world right now. As Lisi Herrebrugh has explained, in their daily lives, they design a fashion brand which has a positive effect on the oceans’ health. The aim is to transform the way people approach the classic fashion system to invest in the future, making garments and accessories that are durable and make people part of a better future. Botter collections unveiled innovative materials, as the ocean wastes plastic that comes from non-renewable resources.

Along with them, synthetic materials found on the shore and polyesters, anything which can be reused and recycled in a continuous cycle. The 20% of Botter collection is always made from biological materials, such as cottons and wools: they are biodegradable and can safely decompose over time. What the artistic duo long for is a crossing dialogue though different disciplines like fashion, arts and innovation; they want people to be aware of the world and motivate them to make the change together. 

Botter Fall Winter 2023 

Venus Comb, Murex Shell showcased during Paris Fashion Week answers the question Who am I? focusing on the cultural identity of the Caribbean youth and sustainable materials. 

Cecilia Falovo