Jamaica shines at NYFW 2026 as Rachel Scott unveils ‘Femme Cheval’ collection on global stage

Jamaica is marking a strong foot print in the field of fashion, as designer Rachel Scott, revealed her new womenswear collection at the New York Fashion Week (NYFW) on Sunday, February 15, 2026. It represented her five-year old brand Diotima on the international stage.

The collection was presented on the closing day of the fashion week, under the theme “Fall 2026 ready-to-wear season.” It included 34 new looks, which were inspired by the late Cuban artist Wifredo Lam. A collaboration with Refugee Atelier, who is a New York-based non-profit artist, was also featured.

Some of the looks included a long grey-buttoned dress (look 8), a black-sparkly maxi dress (look 12), and a sleeveless bodycon maxi dress (look 32). Scott kept a fresh and unique style with this collection, with fine-gauge merino knit, hand-applied organza intarsia, gobelin jacquard, and digital prints on wool-silk canvas being used on some of the looks.

Her show at 111 Broadway in Manhattan last Wednesday also gained great attention from people across the region as the front row seats were taken by rising Jamaican sprinting icon Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce, the First Lady of New York and wife of Mayor Zohran Mamdani Rama Duwaji, womenswear designer Christopher John Rogers, Grammy-winning R&B singer Monica, and influential stylist Gabriella Karefa-Johnson.

Scott’s new collection was titled “Femme Cheval,” and featured three Jamaican models - Naki Depass, Tami Williams, and former Pulse co-managing director Romae Gordon. The designer explained in the show’s notes that her new collection reflects a woman’s life with radiance, force, and radical self-definition.

This collection takes shape in a political and cultural moment marked by exhaustion and division, where resilience, identity and memory become acts of resistance, added Scott.

She was also awarded the Council of Fashion Designers of America Emerging Designer of the Year Award in 2023 and American Womenswear Designer of the Year in 2024. Scott also unveiled her debut collection for the American womenswear and accessories brand Proenza Schouler, earlier this month.