From foliage to fashion: Exhibition using waste from King's garden to be held at Sandringham

A range of unique outfits created with plant waste taken from the King’s gardens are set to go on display at one of the royal estates.

The collection of 26 garments and accessories is part of a collaboration between the designer duo Vin + Omi and King Charles after they bonded over their shared passion for sustainability.

The exhibition, called Royal Garden Waste To Fashion’s Future, will be held from March 23 to October 11 in the Ballroom at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk.

The collection includes Vin + Omi’s initial experiments using butterbur, an Asian bog-loving plant that grows beside the lakes at Sandringham.

The plant was later used to create a maxi dress, which is described as a world-first.

Other outfits have been created from plant materials from the royal gardens at Highgrove and the Queen Mother’s Scottish estate, the Castle of Mey.

After a 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 duo then created a process to turn the nettles they had gathered into a versatile textile.

In the exhibition, the nettle material has been used a number of times, including for a coil dress which is laid on a base of recycled groundsheet and dyed with fallen rose petals.

Other plant materials incorporated into their garments are cow parsley, willow, hydrangea and bog cotton.

“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" said Vin + Omi.

The collaboration has also involved university students who have taken part in an educational programme supported by the head gardeners from Sandringham and Highgrove.

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