In Our Nature

From mother-of -pearl buttons to feather-trimmed millinery, the natural world has long been at the heart of our sartorial expression, as a new exhibition at the V&A reveals

- Catriona Gray

Last year, it was announced that the only known surviving fragment of Queen Elizabeth I’s wardrobe had been discovered. The intricately embroidered skirt, sewn with gold thread, had been made into an altar cloth and lay undisturbed for centuries in a quiet Herefordshire church. Covered in roses, daffodils, and a menagerie of animals, insects, and caterpillars, this exquisite relic is a testament to how nature was such an intrinsic part of life that even its humblest creatures were elevated into decorative symbols to adorn the costliest of royal fabric.

Humans have always relied upon the environment for survival, but it is easy to forget that it is also the source of the clothes that we wear. In the past, this connection was acknowledged and even celebrated, but our increasing detachment from the natural world makes it harder to appreciate that the most luxurious pieces of couture are still made from the simplest of materials. This rich and unexpected history, from the early 17 th century to the present day, is the subject of a major new exhibition at the V&A.

Fashioned from Nature charts the complex and ever evolving relationship between our clothes and the environment. It reflects the inspiration that fashion has always drawn from flora and fauna, and the industry’s impact on nature, these two strands combining to reveal how our own attitudes have altered over the course of several hundred years.

“Previously, people really understood where their clothes came from and valued that knowledge,” says the V&A curator Edwina Ehrman. “Even in my own childhood in the 1950s, your ‘best’ garments were cherished and cared for. They lasted for years—they would be mended and preserved and handed down. They were prized possessions.”