Courtesy of Bree Johnson
At sunset yesterday, Diotima presented her Fall/Winter 2024 New York Fashion Week collection, reminding us of the fine line between done and done. While the models pose against gallery walls in colorful knits and cutouts, we can’t help but notice their beautiful looks, a combination of chunky liner and flushed cheeks. I couldn’t. “I was thinking about this moment of coming back,” Diotima designer Rachel Scott tells ESSENCE.
Imagine this. It’s 4am and you’re staggering out of a fashion week party. You arrive with bright eye makeup, but later give way to smoky shadows, smudged with sweat and humidity that only comes from dancing the night away. Maybe it will even lift your puffy state to a higher level. “I’ve been out and about, but I don’t mind it,” says Scott, now free from the constraints of his appearance.
Working with hairstylist Joey George, “we kept thinking about the women in the church in Jamaica, how they could get their hair done right and go partying the next week.” “I guess so,” Scott says. Caribbean designers interpreted that memory to make the model’s hair look like a hat. “But it’s still sexy even if it’s a little undone, with one side stroking back.”
As for makeup, Yumi Lee was responsible for her flushed cheeks courtesy of MERIT Beauty and a soft gray matte shadow under her eyes. “It’s really amazing and she gets dark under her eyes,” Scott says. His eyebrows were thick and prominent, and her lipstick had faded as if it had migrated to the rim of the glass. But don’t worry, they can repent in church in the morning.
