DIOTIMA Fall/Winter 2026 / FW26 at New York Fashion Week entitled FEMME CHEVAL, it’s a Women’s Collection by Rachel Scott.

It began with a feeling in the studio, before the collection had taken shape – an ancestral pull, insistent and pressing. In searching for its form, I turned to the work of Wifredo Lam. Shaped by Afro-Cuban symbolism, Caribbean spirituality, and European modernism, his visual language carries a consciousness that resonates deeply with my own. The immensity of what the partnership with Lam’s estate means to me is impossible to verbalize. At Diotima, beauty is inseparable from the political, and the urgency of distilling Lam’s message at this moment should not be understated. His paintings reflect histories of displacement, resistance, and decolonization. To approach them demands care, research, and reverence.

At the centre of DIOTIMA FW26 / Fall/Winter 2026 collection is the concept of the femme cheval – a figure both human and divine. A counter-image to colonial fantasy, she transforms the object of desire into a figure of spiritual and cultural power. Erotic autonomy becomes inseparable from cultural sovereignty. Much about the femme cheval is about the body. I wanted this to come through materially, not just symbolically. Translucent textiles reveal skin, knits separate and expose. Pressed mohair with a viscose lapel mimics fur, and equestrian language informs silhouette without becoming literal. Riding jackets exaggerate the hip. Column silhouettes elongate the body. Lines and fringe suggest mane and whip. The woman who emerges in this collection is incandescent and intellectually free, elegant and insurgent. Her sensuality is not an invitation, she refuses domination.

Pieces in DIOTIMA FW26 / Fall/Winter 2026 collection engage directly with Lam’s imagery – not to reproduce it, but to translate its force into the vocabulary of clothing through technique and silhouette. Works such as La Jungla, Femme Cheval, and Omi Obini informed both palette and material direction. Their atmospheres – dense, layered, charged – shaped the development of textile, silhouette, and colour. To articulate the complexity of Lam’s work, techniques were chosen for their ability to hold layered form and chromatic intensity: Gobelin jacquards, digital prints on wool-silk canvas, hand-applied organza intarsia, and fine-gauge merino knit. At times, colour is deliberately withdrawn. In one particular gobelin jacquard, the face of the fabric appears drained of colour, and the colour reveals itself on the inside. The surface remains restrained, the interior carries intensity.

At the core of Diotima is a commitment to craft that carries history and cultural memory, alongside an ongoing interest in diasporic storytelling. This season includes a collaboration with Refugee Atelier in New York – women from across the world whose skills carry their own histories of displacement and resilience.

DIOTIMA FW26 / Fall/Winter 2026 collection takes shape in a political and cultural moment marked by exhaustion and division, where resilience, identity and memory become acts of resistance. It is about a woman who moves through it with radiance, force, and radical self-definition. Not in spite of the times, but within them. To the honour of those who crossed borders – by force, by choice, by necessity – and the ancestors who endure through us.

With heartfelt gratitude to Eskil Lam and the Wifredo Lam Estate for their trust and warmth in welcoming us into their world, and to Galerie Gmurzynska for opening this possibility and being a bridge for this collaboration. Thank you to the Association of Friends of Sarah Maldoror & Mario de Andrade for granting us the opportunity to present Maldoror’s film and extend her legacy to new audiences. In appreciation of Rashid Johnson and Sheree Hovsepian, whose generous support and encouragement made this collection possible.

All images DIOTIMA FW26 / Fall/Winter 2026 by the brand. Credit to: Styling and Creative Consulting by Marika-Ella Ames, Hair by Joey George with Oribe, Makeup by Yumi Lee with Anastasia Beverly Hills, Nails by Naomi Yasuda, Casting by Julia Lange Casting, Music Direction by DJ Jordss, Production Bureau Betak, In-House Production Shay Johnson Studio, Public Relations by Lucien Pagès Communication, Skincare by Moart Lab, Lingerie by Commando, Hosiery by Swedish Stockings, Athletic shoes by Nike, Water by Voss.