New York-based label Diotima brought forth a more colorful take on its signature aesthetic for its Fall 2024 collection, titled “Fever”, which was shown at a studio space in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood. Inspired by a woman’s day-to-night journey, the collection “unfolded within the span of a single day, as if time could be manipulated like a film. The day would begin the night before, at 4 a.m., at the end of a long night of partying. The protagonist has become a little undone.”
To bring her vision to life, Jamaican-born designer Rachel Scott swapped out her previous neutral palette for bold, vibrant hues and designed a diverse range of pieces that catered to both lovers of minimalism and maximalism. The result? A beautiful collection filled with tailored suits, metallic partywear, body-hugging fringe macramé dresses, and sculptural crochet knits in eye-catching shades of bubblegum pink, buttery yellow, and hibiscus red.
As lead hairstylist, Joey George was tasked with dreaming up the perfect hair look to complement Diotima’s latest collection. Using an arsenal of KEVIN.MURPHY products, George and his team crafted very “undone” hair that he called “the Church Lady look.”
Post-show, The Tease was able to chat with George about the inspiration for the hair at Diotima, how he worked to embrace each model’s hair texture backstage, and why he enjoys working with the KEVIN.MURPHY brand at fashion week.
The Tease: Can you tell us a little bit about the hair and what served as inspiration?
Joey George: So each season is very special, but this season’s collection is really special for me because all of the clothing is quite intricate. You’ll notice that there’s a lot of knitwear and crocheted pieces. And that’s kind of Rachel’s aesthetic. This year, I noticed in the collection that there was this new design in which the clothes were gathered in a way that looked like a jellyfish to me. And it makes sense for a lot of the cultural representation that she does within Kingston, Jamaica and everything.
I wanted to have that same kind of feeling within the hair. So we worked with several different textures, lengths, colors, and just kind of made the best version of everyone. But the overall uniform look for the majority of people was this look where I basically took the top section of the hair and sectioned it out, pulled it forward, tied it off with a ponytail, and then re-fastened it to the top of the head, creating this slouch. If you think about it, it’s like a beret in the hair, and it kind of felt like a jellyfish to me with that sack, and then there was this really beautiful natural texture hanging down.
What KEVIN.MURPHY products were key to bringing this hair look to life on all the models?
George: My favorite product for the look is KILLER.CURLS ($41). Killer Curls is used pretty much on everybody. We wanted to enhance natural texture—curly hair, wavy hair, and all of the in-between. Then after I applied that, we used a diffuser. I went back in with my favorite serum, YOUNG.AGAIN OIL ($49). It’s one of my favorite hair serums out there. Basically, I’m put this in the hair while it’s wet, just to give the curl a nice uniform curl and a nice saturation, making everything very nice and glossy. Then, I followed it up with SHIMMER.SHINE ($35), which is the coolest product ever; it has the most reflective shine I’ve ever seen in hair care. Everyone’s got this, not only in the hair, but it’s also a little bit over the skin as well, so that while they’re out there, they’re just glowing and feeling like their healthiest selves. Some texture, I finished off with the BEDROOM.HAIR spray ($37). This spray is just really, really cool to give me the texture that I’m looking for, maybe for the finer, straighter hair textures. And that’s it.
How did you work to tailor the core hair look to the models’ personal hair type and texture?
George: One of the best things about Rachel is that she embraces all backgrounds with her aesthetic. So there is really every single walk of life as far as texture of hair—locs, twists, braids, fros, and everything in between. Everything has its own aesthetic and identity, and so we wanted to make sure that each person stayed in their own world, but had that uniform look that I was doing. So I kind of lived within each character, and then just made it their own.
Lastly, can you talk to us about your experience working with KEVIN.MURPHY for this presentation?
George: This is actually my second time working with KEVIN.MURPHY and the entire team. It’s actually been a pleasure! My first time working with them was last season with the Willy Chavarria show and I had done all these really sculptural shapes that were inspired by the 1920s and a style that was just very culturally represented. And so here I am again, and I’m working with yet another brand, Diotima, that is focused more on Caribbean culture. It’s just a real honor to be part of something like this because I feel like it’s a brand that you don’t necessarily see every day. The work that Rachel is doing is and the clothes that she’s creating is just really special to see.
I would love to work with KEVIN.MURPHY forever. I think that they’re a very talented team of people and they’re very generous with their knowledge and education. They have shared all of their products with me and I’m very grateful for that.
