EXCLUSIVE: Rushemy Botter and Lisi Herrebrugh to Exit Nina Ricci
PARIS — Nina Ricci and its artistic directors Rushemy Botter and Lisi Herrebrugh have mutually agreed to part ways after three and a half years, the brand said Monday.
The pair were appointed in 2018, mere months after scooping up the top prize at the Hyères International Festival of Fashion and Photography and reaching the final stage of the LVMH Prize with their men’s wear label Botter.
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Botter and Herrebrugh last week presented their final collection for Nina Ricci, an exploration of extreme windsports inspired by the French fashion house’s fragrance, L’Air du Temps, and its swirling bottle design.
The designers, who grew up in the Caribbean, are known for their underwater references and use of bold color. They were charged by parent company Puig with bringing a contemporary edge to Nina Ricci, which is currently without a chief executive officer following the departure of Charlotte Tasset in September.
“Nina Ricci warmly thanks Lisi and Rushemy for their poetic interpretations of the brand’s collections, which brought a fresh approach and a new sense of modernity to Nina Ricci which we will continue working on going forward,” the house said in a statement.
”We wish them great success in expressing their talent with their own label and look forward to opening a new creative and innovative direction of Nina Ricci,” it added.
The designers said: “We are thankful to Nina Ricci and Puig for their trust and to our passionate team for all their work and support. We are proud to have been able to put our creativity at the service of this iconic maison. We feel that this is the right time to dedicate all of our attention to Botter, which is now entering exciting times and which we want to take to yet another level.”
Botter and Herrebrugh succeeded Guillaume Henry at the house, which has been helmed previously by designers including Peter Copping, Nathalie Gervais, Massimo Giussani, James Aguiar, Lars Nilsson and Olivier Theyskens.
This April, the brand said it was closing its historic flagship boutique, located at 39 Avenue Montaigne in Paris, as it pivoted to a digital-first strategy, in line with its price repositioning.
For fall 2021, Nina Ricci’s creative directors cut the number of looks they presented by 30 percent, and prices were divided by 2.5, in order to make the collection more accessible.
Nina Ricci was founded in 1932 and is known for its bestselling fragrances.
The brand’s fashion is carried by around 80 retailers worldwide, including Le Bon Marché, Printemps, Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Isetan, Joyce and Lane Crawford. It’s also sold online through Net-a-porter, Farfetch and Ssense.
SEE ALSO:
Rushemy Botter and Lisi Herrebrugh Named Artistic Directors at Nina Ricci
Nina Ricci Goes Airborne With Breezy Pre-fall Collection
Nina Ricci Went Streamlined With a Fuss-Free Fall Collection
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