Like every teen movie’s prom night, many a designer has (at least) once used the theme of “Under the Sea” as inspiration for their collections. One of these, Alexander McQueen’s Plato’s Atlantis, is arguably up there with some of the most memorable fashion shows ever. Who can forget the way McQueen transformed deep-sea vertebrates and luminescent scales into sculptural objets d’art, and then livestreamed the whole thing online for the first time in history.

But if there’s a brand that took this theme and truly elevated into a contemporary space for positive change, it’s Botter. From visual inspirations and use of nautical materials to their partnership with Parley for the Oceans and even launching their own coral reef farm – Dutch design duo and couple Lisi Herrebrugh and Rushemy Botter have effortlessly imbued the symbolism of oceans into every corner of their ethos. Like it often does, this narrative found its core in the most personal of experiences. “Most of my childhood memories of visiting my family have been around and in the water,” Lisi explains, “and I’ve seen it change in my lifetime. But it’s also a source of inspiration because it’s such an unexplored piece of the Earth. So, it’s not only the negative sides of the pollution and problems that we are all facing. It’s also the innovation, the looking forward, its limitlessness.” On top of that, their brand’s alias – and Rushemy’s last name – also describes a traditional wooden fishing boat from the Netherlands.

There’s a certain air of mystique that surrounds couples who are also successful business partners. How do they do it? How do they not just fight all the time? Do they resist taking all of their work to bed? Whose fault is it when things don’t go as planned? The questions are plenty and, though many have tried, there doesn’t seem to be a straightforward recipe for success with double-ended partnerships. However, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to try and follow in the footsteps of Rushemy and Lisi, who first met 20 years ago. “We used to live in two small villages that are just next to each other, close to Amsterdam. Her brother is my best friend, and that’s how we got to know each other,” Rushemy says, adding with a smile: “Now, we’ve been together for 15 years.”

Their relationship effortlessly evolved into a creative one during their time at university. After Lisi graduated from Amsterdam Fashion Institute, she moved to Antwerp to live with Rushemy who was in his final year at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. “I was helping her with sketches; she was helping me on the technical side. The points I was a bit weaker on, she was better with, and the other way around,” he explains. Even before there was a brand as such, the two were working together in a completely symbiotic way on Rushemy’s graduate collection. “Walter Van Beirendonck jokingly called Lisi his adopted student,” Rushemy laughs.

After the graduate show, the duo won the prestigious grand prize at the Hyères International Festival of Fashion and Photography the following year with their s/s ’18 collection, setting the pace for what we could expect from Botter as a fashion house. Filled with joy and humour, the clothes felt both satirical and powerful. A logo of a certain fossil fuel mega-company was poignantly reappropriated to spell “hell”. Animal pool floats were affixed to the models’ heads like some sort of couture headpieces.

“For us, being creative and making ugly, unconventional materials beautiful gave more soul and depth to the clothes,” Rushemy says. Continuing this practice even today, Botter never hide the fact that they are upcycling a material. Instead, they celebrate its origin story by putting it to the forefront. In the collections that followed, an abundance of plastic barbs that attach price tags to garments were used like the finest Lesage embroidery on baseball caps, while plastic carrier bags transformed into vests and elegant neckerchiefs.

It’s no surprise that their innovative, tongue-in-cheek ways quickly caught the eyes of the fashion powers that be. Just months after winning at Hyères, Rushemy and Lisi were announced as the joint creative directors of Nina Ricci, a Parisian heritage house originally founded back in 1932. As one can imagine, this was a formidable task for two creatives fresh out of education. While at the helm, the couple successfully juggled the two brands, although they do admit that Botter was “a crying baby that suffered at times”.

Their tenure at Nina Ricci made a mark on the industry, if somewhat silently. While bringing some ingenious ideas to the catwalk, Lisi and Rushemy shook up the status of this heritage Parisian house as an eccentric luxury hub. Their s/s ’20 collection for Nina Ricci saw models walking out with literal bucket hats on their heads and in their hands. Plot twist: those were actual hats crafted in oversized, hard bucket forms that also doubled as handbags with the addition of luxe leather straps.

Eventually, the Dutch duo felt their firstborn deserved attention, and they decided to depart from Nina Ricci in early 2022. For a/w ’22 and their own brand’s first collection after the departure, it became very apparent that all of the designers’ focus was on the world of Botter. “It was this feeling of going back to university and being free,” Rushemy says. “Playing, having fun and pushing our ideas, kicking in some doors.”

The Paris Fashion Week show felt like a burst of happiness accompanied by fireworks. Titled Dear Earth, it told a story of experiences that unite diverse communities in times of trouble. They deconstructed their own experiences of carnivals as places where abundance and poverty meet through the power of music, dance and food. Rushemy was born in Curaçao, while Lisi’s family draws bloodlines from the Dominican Republic, and the common connection of their Caribbean heritage was in full bloom. “Every February, our family comes together. We eat together, and go out,” Rushemy says, explaining the importance of Curaçao’s annual carnival that takes place every February. He narrates memories of barbecues on the beach and the rustling sound his grandma’s beaded curtains make when people enter her house.

You could stare and decipher parts of this collection for days, like a painting by Hieronymus Bosch, constantly finding detailed references that bring the story back to its maritime inspirations. Botter’s signature bags, engineered out of discarded fenders and buoys with the addition of apple-leather straps, now come in a wider variety of colourways and shapes. A boxy polo-shirt silhouette (another leitmotif that’s been part of the brand’s identity since the early days) feels more elevated while maintaining its raw edges, both literally and metaphorically.

Injected with intricate details that nod to activewear, tailoring is where Botter’s design language really hits the soft spot. A standout from the collection that demonstrates this best is also the designers’ personal favourite. “The beige suit with a double lapel you can double cross or flip, with a check pattern on the inside – that’s a garment that we really figured out,” Rushemy says proudly, describing a delicious tan twinset that playfully combines the panels of a diving suit with that of a traditional single-breasted jacket.

This sense of creativity running wild they credit to their decision to move their studio from Paris to Amsterdam, which happened at the outset of the Covid pandemic. “Here, we have much more space in our minds and in the air. The ideas are flowing, and it’s all because we have a lot more time to think, play and plan out.”

When it comes to their textiles, Botter have been working with Parley for the Oceans, a nonprofit environmental organisation dedicated to sea preservation. The majority of their textiles for a/w ’22 were either upcycled or woven out of recycled ocean waste, as sourced through the partnership.

Choice of material is key for Lisi and Rushemy, who use recyclable, recycled and biodegradable materials – including organic cottons and cruelty-free, traceable wools. “We spend a lot of time on picking our fabrics,” Lisi admits, adding that a big focus was in localising the textile production against the factories that produce the garments, with the goal of minimising their carbon trace.

However, their focus on ocean preservation doesn’t stop at the choices of fabric. In 2020, Rushemy and Lisi founded the Botter Coral Nursery, their own non-profit working on actively restoring the coral landscapes of Curaçao. Working with divers and engineers, they developed a process that allows them to keep track of the coral around the area. Just as it’s about to die, coral loses its colour and then starts to kill itself because of the chemicals that are being released. This can also damage the surrounding organisms, which is where the Botter Coral Nursery comes in. “The challenge of the process is to capture the healthy pieces, take them out and hang them on a branch in the middle of the water,” Lisi explains, “where they can capture more nutrients and grow much faster. Once they grow enough, the coral is planted back with the healthy, natural reefs.”

This aquatic reforestation is something the couple are passionate about when thinking about the direction for Botter’s future – which is looking particularly bright at the moment. In June, the designers were declared the winners of the 2022 Andam Grand Prize and its €300,000 reward, as decided by a distinguished panel of judges that included CEOs of the industry’s most powerful conglomerates.

“It’s important that we don’t see ourselves as only a fashion brand, especially in times like these,” Rushemy says. “It doesn’t really feel modern to only make garments. I believe that fashion is an artform which should be reflecting the time that we live in. And the time that we live in – well, we simply need to get back to nature. It’s important not to just push the products, which we collectively have a lot of.
It’s time to give back and make our brand circular – and not just as a fashion brand.”