A range of outfits created with plant waste taken from the King’s gardens are set to go on display at Sandringham.
The collection of 26 garments and accessories is part of a collaboration between designer duo Vin + Omi and Charles after they bonded over their shared passion for sustainability.
The exhibition, titled Royal Garden Waste To Fashion’s Future, will be held from March 23 to October 11 in the Ballroom at the royal estate.
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The collection includes Vin + Omi’s initial experiments using butterbur, an invasive Asian bog-loving plant that grows beside the lakes at Sandringham.
The plant was later used to create an elegant maxi dress, which is described as a world-first.
Other outfits have been created from plant materials from the royal gardens at Highgrove in Gloucestershire and the Queen Mother’s Scottish estate, the Castle of Mey in Caithness.
After their meeting in 2018, the King invited Vin + Omi to his Highgrove estate, giving them the opportunity to sift through waste from the garden and see what materials they might be able to make from it.
The pair have considered new ways of dyeing using waste plant dyes and have fashioned “hard to recycle” plant pots into jewellery in their work.
Other plant materials incorporated into their garments are cow parsley, willow, hydrangea and bog cotton.
The designers Vin + Omi said: “This ongoing collaboration works so well because the King has allowed us to be creatively experimental in approaching new innovative ways for working with his garden’s waste.”
The collaboration has also involved UK and international university students who have taken part in an educational programme supported by the head gardeners from Highgrove and Sandringham.
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