Guyanese-born designer Delayna Scott brings Botswana couture home to Origins fashion festival
Scott, who left Guyana at 14 and has dressed Botswana's First Lady and Miss World 2022, described her first collection in Georgetown as a homecoming.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana. Delayna Scott left Guyana for Botswana with her mother at the age of 14. She is now one of the most sought-after designers for beauty pageant contestants and high society in the southern African country.
The Guyanese-born luxury designer, known for bespoke couture, bridal gowns, ready-to-wear and evening wear, has just shown at the 2026 Origins Guyana Fashion Festival in Georgetown, a three-day event featuring local and overseas Guyanese designers.
"I am happy to be here for the first time since I left Guyana," Scott said. "This collection was more than a showcase, it was a homecoming."
She said each piece told a story of "heritage, movement, craftsmanship, memory, and the places that shaped us", carrying a part of Guyana forward.
From Georgetown to Gaborone
The Botswana government recruited Scott's mother, a teacher, in 1999. Scott left before completing her studies at St Joseph's High School and continued her education in Botswana. Her mother, like many Guyanese women, also worked as a seamstress, and inspired her.
After diplomas in graphic design and pharmacy technology, she earned a degree in design from Limkokwing University of Creative Technology's Botswana campus, where she topped her class.
"I was the only Guyanese in the entire school. I would tell everyone I meet that I am Guyanese," she told the Guyana Chronicle's Pepperpot magazine.
International profile
Scott began her career in 2010. Her work has been shown at Malawi Fashion Week in 2017, New York Fashion Week in 2018 and a Cannes Film Festival fashion exhibition in 2019. She has dressed Miss Botswana titleholders, Miss World 2022 Karolina Bielawska, the First Lady of Botswana and French actresses Sylvia Pouget and Eloise Valli for the Cannes red carpet.
She was overall winner of the inaugural Botswana Fashion Week in 2011 and was named fashion designer of the year at the Women's Fashion Award in 2024.
Scott credits Instagram for much of her exposure and says collaboration is key. "You should not go into a collaboration with a competitive spirit, you must work together so that you can learn from each other," she said.
