The Guardian - 30.08.2019

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:23 Edition Date:190830 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 29/8/2019 20:40 cYanmaGentaYellowb

Friday 30 Aug ust 2019 The Guardian •

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20

Jess Cartner-Morley

What began with small talk between
Prince Charles and the sustainable
fashion pioneers Vin + Omi over a
Victoria sponge will next month result
in dresses made out of nettles from the
prince’s Highgrove estate hitting the
London fashion week catwalk.
Charles met representatives of the
UK design industry last year as part of
the Positive Fashion initiative, which
promotes sustainability, best social
and environmental practice, equality
and local production.
In an eff ort to defl ect conversation
away from the topic of the then-
imminent wedding of his son Harry,
the prince seized on a mention of
the use of nettles as a raw material.
“I’ve got lots of those at Highgrove,”
he said when he met the design duo,
who were branching out from experi-
ment ing with cow parsley. “We didn’t
think much about it at the time,” says

inside each stalk are developed into “a

fl uff y wool-type fi bre, and processed

with environmentally friendly salt-

water bleach to take out the green”.

Charles is “very appreciative” of

the project, say the pair. “Every so

often the postman turns up with a

registered-post letter, bearing the

royal seal. Fifteen years ago, people

called us hippies,” recalls Vin. “The

fashion industry still has a huge prob-

lem, but at least that is acknowledged

now.” However, he thinks that change

is happening too slowly. “For instance,

the promoting of a new designer who

has short-lived success and then goes

bust – there is so much waste in that.”

The brand have partnered with the

Savoy as sustainability advis ers. From

next spring, the hotel’s doormen will

wear a Vin + Omi uniform made from

fabric created out of the hotel’s plas-

tic waste.

Oh dress, where is thy

sting? Designers turn

royal nettles into fabric

 Vin + Omi’s London fashion week

show last year. This year some of their

clothes will be made from nettles

MAIN PHOTOGRAPH: NICKY SIMS/BFC GETTY

Vin, who, like his partner Omi, goes by

a single name.

The invitation to Highgrove arrived

soon afterwards. “It was quite surreal,”

says Omi. “We are not establishment

at all. Our look is 1980s Camden punk.

I mean, it’s not like we are Gucci or

someone like that.”

After meeting the head gardener

at the Gloucestershire royal estate,

where there is a strong emphasis on

recycling, the designers recruited a

team of students from Oxford Brookes

University to help harvest 3,000 nettle

plants. “The Highgrove team are really

relaxed, but it was hard work in hot

weather,” remembers Vin.

When the 10 or so pieces of nettle

clothing make it on to the catwalk

of the Savoy hotel on the last day of

fashion week, the audience will see

“a fabric you might think was a type of

alpaca, or a very fi ne fl eece” says Omi.

Nettle fibres have been woven

into fabric since Roman times, but

the designers worked on a new tech-

nique whereby the fi brous strings from

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