HAVING THEIR SAY

A trio of independent designers— each of whom has launched their brand since the pandemic—talk with Nicole Phelps about their processes, their challenges, and their triumphs.

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The 2024 fashion year was bookended by Sarah Burton's swan song at Alexander McQueen and Louise Trotter landing the creative director job at Bottega Veneta. In between, the state of women in the fashion industry—specifically, how few of them there are in top design roles—became the talk of the internet. Burton was replaced by Seán McGirr at McQueen and Trotter followed Matthieu Blazy at Bottega—men who, a popular meme pointed out, bear a striking resemblance to each other and to at least a handful of other on-the-rise white male designers. Another guy getting another great job: The throw-up-your-hands inevitability of it all could be one of the reasons, alongside price resistance, why women with money to spend are trading high-fashion purchases for wellness experiences and exotic travel. Personally, though, I find more satisfaction in seeking out and shopping smaller independent women-owned brands—and as a writer and editor, I find that these stories are the ones I take the most joy in telling.

There's certainly no shortage of female talent in the industry, as young and not-so-young women designers have been establishing brands that are resonating far beyond their small footprints. Take, for example, Rachel Scott of Diotima, who made the giant leap from the Council of Fashion Designers of America's Emerging Designer of the Year in 2023 to its Womenswear Designer of the Year a year later—and whose crochet tops, handmade by women artisans in her native Jamaica, have become synonymous with in-the-know chic. (It helps when Angel Reese, WNBA phenom and