April 30, 2018 |
We’re suckers for a tale of love. Who isn’t? Sure, some are more interesting than others, but a good fashion romance trumps just about any other – less fraught than the Hollywood couple yet creatively more fruitful than the ordinary celeb hook up. Enter stage left Rushemy Botter and Lisi Herrebrugh with their BOTTER label. They are the designer couple who have just been named winners of the Première Vision Grand Prize at the 33rd edition of the Hyères International Festival of Fashion and Photography (and are also nominated for this year’s LVMH Young Designer award). But before we get all gooey-eyed and surrender our very serious journalism credentials in the name of love, let it be known that this Amsterdam-based menswear duo are, above all, supremely talented.
Having both grown up in the Caribbean, Botter on the island of Curaço and Herrebrugh in the Dominican Republic, its vibrancy, culture and politics inform the majority of their playful and deconstructed collections. Take their prize winning collection for instance, ‘Fish or Flight’. Inspired by the daily commute of island fisherman, the collection mimics their method of draping nets across their bodies – not your ordinary string vest but an extraordinary look nonetheless. We might give it a go with the garden hammock. Anyway, dubbing them winners were an all-star panel of judges headed by Haider Ackerman, including Tilda Swinton, Delfina Delettrez, Ben Gorham, Lou Doillon and Jefferson Hack. As far as booty is concerned it’s a bundle affair, with the couple set to receive a €15,000 prize, access to the ateliers owned by Chanel, a €10,000 grant from Petit Bateau to produce a capsule and automatic entry in to Mercedes-Benz’ International Designer Exchange Program, with a headline show slot at Berlin Fashion Week in July. Whatever happened to the giant cheque? Anyway, we can’t wait to see what they do.
