Designers To Watch: BOTTER

PARIS, France — Overhead last night: The fashion industry is in a state of transition and it will be for a few months and potentially longer before “things” settle. One of the recurring thoughts that upends that refrain is how certain brands are and have been speaking to their audiences in a way that is irrefutably specific to their values and all the better for it. One such brand is BOTTER.

Founded out of a masters’ collection, Paris-based BOTTER has firmly connected its core values of sustainability consciousness into an eclectic mélange of stand-out pieces that appeal to a niche community. Jenke Ahmed Tailly, Billie Eilish, and Justin Bieber count themselves as fans and the cadre continues to grow. Conceived by Rushemy Botter, the brand’s spirit can be summed up in a clear phrase Caribbean Couture, which takes from the heritage and cultural faculties of its founders. Botter (the person) was born in Curaçao and spent much of his upbringing in a fisher’s village near Amsterdam. His partner and collaborator Lisi Herrebrugh’s family is from the Dominican Republic and she grew up traveling back and forth between the island and the Netherlands. The pair’s creative output flourished during their studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Art in Antwerp and the resultant BOTTER connects those dots quite meaningfully.

A recent collection focused on the ocean and its preservation features crepe wool suiting in vibrant tones of cobalt blue coral inspired by acropora tortuosa. The level of craftsmanship and hand-pinned details justify the couture calling card and are done so in a way that feels in synchrony with our times. Recycled plastic gun tags are embroidered into the jacket reminiscent of both a consumerist culture and its deepest failings on the ecology of the oceans. Another piece takes its inspiration literally and figuratively from the iconic street installation stands in Paris, repurposing the sun-bleached umbrellas produced by Maison Piganiol (established in 1884) into functional and fashionable windbreakers.

Considered touches such as the BOTTER Afro Comb speak to a vision of challenging a norm through a singular perspective: a hair instrument reimagined in liquid black lacquer and embossed leather.

Yet, it is not just the creation of beautiful garments that guides the brand. BOTTER launched a Coral Reef Farm in Curaçao in 2020 in order to directly counter-act the global bleaching issue of coral reefs, which is caused by climate change. It is the inspiration and the charging force that informs Botter and Herrbrugh’s process. Not to mention, the duo plays double duty as the creative directors behind Nina Ricci.

A busy schedule need not deter BOTTER from its all-important mission to inform and improve, one coral reef at a time.

All images courtesy of BOTTER / @BOTTER_Paris