Nina Ricci Embarks On A New Chapter With Rushemy Botter And Lisi Herrebrugh As Artistic Directors

Since Guillaume Henry’s departure as creative director of Nina Ricciin March, all product has been designed by the in-house studio. Now, the French house has announced his successors: Dutch design duo Rushemy Botter and Lisi Herrebrugh.

The pair, who most recently won the Première Vision Grand Prize at Hyères Festival and reached the final of this year’s LVMH Prize for Young Designers, were selected by Puig, Ricci’s Spanish parent company, in order to bring “a big dose of coolness” to the brand.

“We were looking for someone unique,” José Manuel Albesa, president of brands, markets and operations at Puig, told WWD. “They did some sketches to show their vision for the brand, and I was really amazed because it was not an evolution, it was a revolution.”

He went on to praise the playful way both Botter and Herrebrugh, who grew up on the islands of Curaçao and Dominican Republic respectively, draw upon their heritage. “They have this kind of Caribbean joie de vivre. It’s very appropriate for the brand, and it’s extremely appropriate for the times.”

The position of joint artistic directors is effective immediately, and the team will relocate from Antwerp to Paris in September with their menswear brand, Botter. Pre-fall 2019 will be their first official collection, and the duo will present their vision for Nina Ricci formally at Paris Fashion Week in March during the autumn/winter 2019 shows.

“We feel very inspired by the fresh, feminine and subtle codes that make Nina Ricci such a beautiful ode to femininity,” the designers commented. “We aim to create a new spirit, a spirit of our times, effortless yet sophisticated, strong yet positive.”

Though Guillaume Henry reportedly left the house after three-and-a-half years due to financial reasons and what he perceived as a lack of investment from Puig, the nomination marks a new business strategy for the brand.

“We see that today, the typical model is getting obsolete and things are changing in a big way, not only because of the millennials and the digital acceleration, but overall,” Albesa asserted. “When you see what the consumer is looking for today, it’s not the same as when we started in fashion.”

He urged Botter and Herrebrugh to be bold – “We have been perhaps too shy with Nina Ricci” – and to respect the history of the house while carving a new path and connecting with younger customers, which the previous revolving door of creative heads have not been able to achieve.

A Puig-implemented expansion plan for Dries Van Noten, which it acquired in June, will run in tandem with the Nina Ricci developments.