Haitian heritage and discarded toys jewelry — Botter 2024 show in Paris
During Paris Fashion Week, Caribbean couture Botter introduced a new 3D printed slippers, made discarded toys jewelry, and crafted knitwear out of up-cycled Scooby Doo yarns
Botter, the Dutch brand presenting most exciting Caribbean couture
Founded by Lisi Herrebrugh and Rushemy in 2020, Botter is a joyful mix of hybrid Caribbean culture, Dutch tailoring and strong sustainability consciousness. For the creative duo who met doing their masters’ collection at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts — which won the Dries Van Noten Award and the Ann Demeulemeester Awards, among others — working together is the opportunity to express a straightforward vision.
Embracing their roots from one of the world’s most biologically diverse marine regions, Botter is dedicated to preserving nature in all its forms. Their 2023 spring-summer show entitled Mother Earth caught the fashion scene attention as the model strolled down the runway with their hands deep inside water-filled condoms. Raising awareness with inventiveness.
Vodou: a collection exploring Haitian heritage – Botter SS24
This season 2024, Botter is striking once again. Called Vodou, the collection is paying homage to the African diasporic religion, born from the Haitians who had been uprooted and imported to Hispaniola [Caribbean island part of the Greater Antilles] during the African slave trade. African culture and religion were repressed, family lineages were fragmented, and individuals shared their religious knowledge collectively.
«Vodou is a worldview. Everything within the universe affects everything else. We are all a unity, the notion of the unity of all forces of nature is central to Vodou», stated the designers for which a continuous flow of energy was key in the creation of this new collection. And indeed, the duo invited — between others— Haitian artist Day Brierre, his colourful illustrations featuring on the show invitations and printed on organic silks or woven into a jacquard fabric. The most remarkable piece from that collaboration is a long gown and a coat featuring a drawing a black girl holding a cat.
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Botter SS24 in Paris – Floral liberty print and discarded toys jewelry
As usual for Botter, marine references are thriving: a beige life jacket is tied with delicate knots while a bright green jacket features tiny portholes. Male silhouettes are embracing suggested bikini tops. The overlapped top of last fall-winter collection is beautifully reinvented on trompe l’oeil suits jackets made by a single slit in the back neck. Botter is also forcing floral liberty print’s come back—yes, we had almost forgotten about it — by applying it on transparent fabric. And it works great.
The knitwear is crafted using upcycled Scooby Doo yarns, skillfully manipulated to create the illusion of a woven fabric. All those different textures and colors celebrated as only Botter knows how to do it through creative tailoring. For the accessories, the team relied on originality. Belly chains made out of dolls’ hand, silver troll head with neon hair as necklaces : the designers worked together with Belgian artist Daniel Von Weinberger, to create chains and keychains jewelry using discarded toys.
An evolution of the green sneakers: the Murex Shell in Botter SS24 show
Taking design inspiration from the Murex seashell, used by Greek Goddess Venus as a hair comb, the label gave its iconic Murex Shell 3D printed sneakers a fresh summer interpretation as slides. Made in collaboration with Reebok and printer company HP, Botter created a distinctive concept sneaker, building upon Botter’s previous “Banker” shoe from 2017. This iteration showcases a Reebok football boot silhouette and has been uniquely crafted through 3D printing techniques, resulting in a one-of-a-kind environmentally friendly sneaker.
Made through the utilization of cutting-edge computational techniques and manufactured in a remarkably short span of fifteen days, this technique presents a significant advantage in the footwear industry, reducing drastically the typical development and production time.
This method of additive manufacturing —which means that objects are created layer by layer from a base material— also reduces material waste, as only the quantities needed are used to create the shoe. What’s more, the materials used in 3D printing can be recycled, helping to reduce the overall environmental footprint. Reaffirming one more time, the Dutch brand’s commitment to protect the planet.
Botter
Rushemy Botter and Lisi Herrebrugh, the emerging fashion duo who won the Andam Fashion Award in 2022 as the best brand of the year. Increasingly relevant in the Paris men’s fashion shows.
