In the past few days, Yoox Net-a-Porter and Prince Charles’s Foundation unveiled a menswear and womenswear luxury ready-to-wear collection.
Called The Modern Artisan, the project is a first-of-its-kind partnership aimed to support handcraft tailoring and deliver professional training to artisan trainees in the United Kingdom and Italy.
The young participants had a chance to learn how to craft luxury fashion to the highest quality standards with sustainability in mind: high fashion apparel is the result of a process that considers the resources available as well as opportunities to adopt sustainable approaches to manufacturing and design.
The collection was designed by six Italian students at the Politecnico di Milano’s Fashion in Progress (FiP) research center. Meanwhile, British craftspeople received professional training on the production of limited luxury lines at the Dumfries House Textile Training Center, the headquarters of The Prince’s Foundation in Ayrshire, Scotland.
“The key for me” – says the Prince of Wales, who has always been committed to support sustainability –“is to rediscover the importance that nature plays, understand where natural materials come from and how they can be used in exciting and innovative ways. After all, nature is the source of everything”.
All proceeds from the 10 womenswear and 8 menswear pieces featured in the collection will be donated to the Prince’s Foundation for the development and management of training programs aimed to preserve handcraft tailoring.
A collaboration between Italy and the United Kingdom enhancing premium handcrafting, the respect of nature and raw materials, and the new realization that today, real luxury can’t leave sustainability aside.
