Yoox Net-a-Porter for The Prince’s Foundation—a sustainable capsule collection endorsed by Prince Charles—will soon launch on Yoox, Net-a-Porter, Mr Porter, and The Outnet as a grand finale to the Yoox Net-a-Porter’s 20th anniversary.
The collection is a culmination of The Modern Artisan—a collaboration between the Yoox Net-a-Porter Group and The Prince’s Foundation that aims to equip trainee artisans in the United Kingdom and Italy with the skills and knowledge to produce luxury apparel collections.
Six Italian students from Politecnico di Milano’s Fashion in Process (FiP) research laboratory were selected to lead the design, taking inspiration from “the convergence of art and science) in Leonardo da Vinci’s work.
The designs were then brought to life by British artisans, who were trained in small batch productions skills at Dumfries House, the headquarters of The Prince’s Foundation in Ayrshire, Scotland.
(Related: Prince Charles Talks Sustainable Fashion and His Upcoming Collection on Yoox Net-a-Porter)
“As you know better than I, these things (textile knowledge, sewing skills) are in shorter and shorter supply, because the older generation are coming to the end of their working lives, and not enough attention has been paid—sadly, I’ve always felt—to vocational education. So I was talking to him (Federico Marchetti, chairman and CEO of Yoox Net-a-Porter of Group) about it. He came to Dumfries House, saw what we’re doing, we talked further – and that was where the idea came from…” Charles told Vogue UK in an interview.
More than a year in the making, The Modern Artisan’s debut collection will launch on November 12, available for purchase at Yoox, Net-a-Porter, Mr Porter, and The Outnet. Here’s a first look at the mens- and womenswear pieces.