“Who am I?” Three words, six letters and a loaded question that had 2022 Andam winners Lisi Herrebrugh and Rushemy Botter thinking about Caribbean culture, pulled together from many horizons but also loaded with cultural and racial subtext.
Not ones to see the glass half empty, the pair “wanted the collection to be a celebration of the hybrid culture,” said Herrebrugh, pointing out the way youth found “ground by mixing cultures together and finding a new whole.”
Style-wise, the pair picked up where they left off in the spring, refining their tailored silhouettes ever further. The interplay of spliced layers and trompe-l’oeil elements served as a textile metaphor for “peeling back your identity, peeling back who you are,” said Herrebrugh.
They also made a case for resilience. Cases in point: trousers turned upside down and rejiggered to become tops, a bikini-shaped appliqué on a shirt dress, or a knit top that looked like it could be a bustier, cardigan or sweater depending on what the moment called for.
For all their optimism, they remain realistic about the ways of the world, especially when it comes to the environment. “The worse the world is going, the more people run and focus on [the] material,” rued Herrebrugh, “What we should focus on is how to clean up the world.”
Determined to be part of the solution, the pair are continuing their clever experiments, from saddle bags — that’s to say, bags made from repurposed discarded saddles — and the algae yarn in their knits to an organic-looking concept sneaker developed with Reebok and HP 3D Printing to find ways to develop and produce more sustainably.
Their message is like the coral they started farming during the pandemic: ever-growing, sharp — and beautiful, too.
