Botter, who was born in Curaçao, and Herrebrugh, who has lived between Amsterdam and the Dominican Republic, founded their label, which is heavily inspired by their Caribbean heritage, after graduating from Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts in 2017. This past year, Botter earned the Grand Prize at the prestigious Festival d’Hyères in France and was named a finalist in the 2018 LVMH Prize for Young Designers . Their hiring may be unexpected given the fact that 1) they design menswear, and 2) they are relatively unknown (at least, in comparison to labels like Céline and Burberry, who chose to hire big-names creative directors like Hedi Slimane and Riccardo Tisci, respectively), but it seems like that's exactly the point. As Albesa told WWD, “We have been perhaps too shy with Nina Ricci.” And Botter and Herrebrugh are designers who definitely won't play it safe.