‘The Fantastic Four’ make waves in global fashion
Published:Sunday | April 20, 2025 | 12:09 AMOmar Tomlinson - Contributor
There’s no stopping the resounding success Jamaicans are enjoying in the world of fashion far beyond the 876. Whether starring in the new Valentino advertising campaign, having their design work the focus of Vogue editorials, or claiming wins at prestigious fashion awards, The Rock’s creative sons and daughters are doing it big!
The Sunday Gleaner reports on ‘the fantastic four’ you need to know right now.
IN FASHION, SHE TRUSTS
Jamaican fashion designer and Diotima creative director Rachel Scott – who snagged the Council of Fashion Designers of America Womenswear Designer of the Year Award in November in Gotham – has more hardware to add to her ever-expanding trophy case.
Scott won the Fashion Trust US (FTUS) Ready-To-Wear Award on April 8 in a celebrity-stacked ceremony held in California at the 1930s art deco Citizen News in downtown Los Angeles.
With her win, Scott secured US$100,000 and access to professional mentorship from FTUS and Google Shopping.
Hosted by creative multi-hyphenate Keke Palmer, it was the third iteration of the FTUS’s Awards, and attendees included a Diotima-rocking Laura Harrier, Gabrielle Union, Kerry Washington, Colman Domingo, Ciara, Kate Hudson, and more.
For Scott, who was among seven nominees for the 2025 International Woolmark Prize awarded to Dutch designer Duran Lantink at the Milan, Italy-held ceremony on April 2, she’s found her sweet spot in her career.
“I feel fully embraced by a very beautiful and growing community of designers changing the face of fashion and by the retailers that have supported me from the very beginning,” she told The Sunday Gleaner in an interview back in November 2024.
THEOPHILIO IN ‘VOGUE’S’ MAY MET ISSUE
With two Mondays to go until the world’s biggest one-night fashion extravaganza that is The Met Gala unfolds, American Vogue dedicated a celebrity-trove portfolio to the Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute’s upcoming exhibition titled ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’, with a long list of black actors, music stars, athletes and influential cultural figures styled by in-demand ‘image architect’ Law Roach.
It was shot by Tyler Mitchell, who was incidentally the first African-American photographer to shoot a Vogue cover in its 125-year history in 2018 when he lensed Beyoncé for a cover feature. The new Vogue portfolio features the work of Jamaican designer Edvin Thompson, who was declared Emerging Designer of the Year in 2021 by the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
Founder and creative director of the Theophilio brand, the 30-year-old Thompson’s menswear and womenswear pieces pop up twice in the much-talked-about Vogue issue. Iconic American director Spike Lee and South Sudanese supermodel Anok Yai are beautifully captured in Looks 6 and 12 from Thompson’s Fall/Winter 2025 collection.
Upon the release of a 15-image lookbook back in February that highlighted his new collection, Thompson told The Sunday Gleaner: “Whether it’s in the textures, colours or the way I think about movement in clothing, Theophilio is rooted in my heritage, and even when it’s not overt, there’s always a connection to home. The confidence, the resilience and the boldness in this collection – that spirit comes from Jamaica.”
STYLIST SMITH FLOURISHES FOR ‘INTERVIEW’ & ‘THE FACE’
When The Sunday Gleaner last caught up with Jamerican Anatolli Smith in December, the Greenwich Village, New York resident, stylist and fashion editor was sharing deets of his Glamour UK cover editorial work with former reality TV stars-turned-business moguls Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie.
Now, his latest oeuvre is for Interview magazine’s Spring 2025 issue, for which he styled American actor Tramell Tillman of the red-hot Apple TV+ series Severance, which scored six Primetime Emmy Award nominations in its first season.
Smith said the shoot concept, photographed by Jeremy Liebman, originated from the ‘Music Dance’ scene on the show. “Initially, the idea was to shoot him in a roller-skating rink, but we found a skate-themed bar in Brooklyn instead. For me, I had some 1970s/1980s skate images for inspiration,” he shared in a telephone interview on Friday. Style-wise, he said the MO was “to keep Tramell looking attractive and elegant and never tied to a reference that the image looks old”.
Furthermore, the fashion insider – an alum of Wolmer’s Boys’ School – also styled ‘The World Boss’ Vybz Kartel for the British music, fashion and culture glossy THE FACE, having travelled to The Rock in January for the cover shoot with the dancehall icon, photographed by Luis Sanchis.
Assisted by a local team, led by producer Iset Sankofa, Smith relished the opportunity to be back home to work on a shoot, and sang the praises of the music superstar whom he outfitted in Hermès and Off-White. “He has such a strong presence already. So, in styling, I tried to keep it a bit classic and elevated so he would shine and the images would be about him as an artiste.”
SAINT’S SANIQUE SNAGS VALENTINO CAMPAIGN
New month, new luxury campaign for a Jamaican star.
The fresh-faced Sanique Dill plays aristocratic-imbued socialite in the Valentino Garavani pre-fall 2025 ad campaign that was released last Wednesday to global fashion media.
The cinematic campaign presents Valentino creative director Alessandro Michele’s idiosyncratic take on the iconic fashion house’s signature romance, with vignettes of sartorially smart gents and fab femmes lensed in front of a pastel-hued ice cream parlour.
Lensed by Glen Luchford, a long-time collaborator with Michele, the Valentino campaign signals Dill’s continued partnership with the renowned Italian luxury fashion house.
“Working with Valentino for the third time has been nothing short of amazing. The team is always supportive and so welcoming,” Dill told The Sunday Gleaner. “It was an unforgettable moment being part of the pre-fall campaign and, trust me, I was thrilled to no end,” the St Andrew Technical High School graduate shared of the shoot that was lensed in Rome, Italy, two months ago.
Dill’s first brush with Valentino came with her catwalk turn for the haute couture Spring 2025 collection show titled Vertigineux in January. Then came their Fall/Winter 2025 show during Paris Fashion Week’s cycle of designer presentations, in which Dill was Look 56.