Jamaica to di World: How Jamaican Designers Are Taking Over

From established names like Martine Rose and Grace Wales Bonner to exciting newcomers like Stanley Raffington, Theophilio, and Diotima, Onata explores the enduring—and evolving—influence of Jamaican style.

In Jamaica there’s a popular Patois saying: “Turn your hand, mek fashion.”

It means all things are possible if you work for them, utilizing your hands and the materials you have. For the island of almost 3 million people—with a global diaspora estimated at 2 million—fashion is one of its most powerful means of expression and experimentation. Today, a collection of established and emerging Jamaican designers are permeating the global fashion industry, expressing the nuances and complex identity of Jamaican people and culture through clothing. From decorated labels like Martine Rose and Wales Bonner to newcomers Diotima, Theophilio, Stanley Raffington, and Jawara Alleyne, this vanguard of talent comes from a long history, etched in the land well before Bob Marley became a global sensation or John Galliano designed his infamous and highly resold Dior Rasta collection. These brands represent a humble yet global Jamaican fashion renaissance. Steeped in storytelling, they are recontextualizing the rich culture of Jamaica with a sensitivity and unanimity that makes you focus on the art, rather than the subject.

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GROWING UP IN THE UK

“My grandmother’s house was the central house where our family came and lived at some point; It was a big hub, a meeting place. A very Jamaican household. There, fashion was irrelevant, but style was everything,” says Martine Rose, British-Jamaican menswear veteran and now guest creative director of Clarks. When discussing her fondest Jamaican memory, Rose attributes growing up in London and experiencing her Jamaican roots through celebration and camaraderie with family. That notion is vividly present throughout her collections; she creates dialogue by juxtaposing subcultures, mixing the irreverence and quirk inherent in British style (evident in her most recent satirical Nike campaign) with smart nods and cultural references to Jamaica via football jerseys and a link-up with the late dub legend Lee “Scratch” Perry, for example. Perhaps the best illustration of Rose’s approach came this season via a preview of her SS24 designs for Clarks. Instead of choosing quintessentially Jamaican Clarks silhouettes like the Desert Boot or Wallabee, she went with oxford brogues and heeled loafers in a pale pink, green, and brown snakeskin pattern. This constant state of remix allows Martine to create new influences for the nation’s style.

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“My grandmother’s house was the central house where our family came and lived at some point; It was a big hub, a meeting place. A very Jamaican household. There, fashion was irrelevant, but style was everything.”

- Martine Rose

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ONATA:

How much do you think growing up was about an amalgamation of these shared experiences?

A:

I had a real sense of that from a very young age. I remember being very aware of different types of people coming together. It’s difficult to describe because it was so much more of a feeling or a sense of something, which is actually how I design. But I remember being very broadly aware, racially, of a huge mix of people. Especially in the rave scene at Clapham Common, there’d be like Rudeboys and Crusties. I knew they were from different tribes but it was this music that unified them. It was very much about that then.

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For upcoming brands still based in Jamaica, the importation of textiles and exportation of local fashion can be a complicated process. The luxury point of view flourishing globally isn’t often replenished into the creative ecosystem in Jamaica. Brands that celebrate the legacy of the country aren’t often on display or for sale at stores and markets, and the closest locals get to designer goods are overpriced wholesale pieces from higglers that go abroad to shop in bulk. With very few resources trickling down, the ability of local artisans and designers to reach new communities is stifled. While the global tenacity of established brands like Martine Rose and Wales Bonner, modeling agencies like Saint, and creatives like celebrity editorial hairstylist and son of Reggae artist Sister Carol, Jawara Wauchope, are creating a fashion point of view that Jamaicans can celebrate, there is still a calling for more. The dream of a local creative community that can flourish with its global counterparts persists, collectively reimagining what Jamaican fashion could create.

Along with her peers, Rose has the large task of envisioning what a namesake brand can hold, and the value culture plays in her direction at Clarks and beyond. “I would like to celebrate Jamaican culture and tell more stories about the influence that this tiny island and society has in every single aspect of culture. Not just clothes, but music and literature and, you know, absolutely everything.” Rose says when asked what she would like to see of Jamaica. “So it’s more, ‘How much would Jamaicans like to see of me?’”

Nia Thomas Edit