Forget haute couture – it’s all about hort couture right now as fashion and gardening are having a moment. From The Met Gala, fashion's biggest night, which had ‘The Garden of Time’ as its dress code this year, to the catwalk shows of some of the biggest names in the business, everything, it seems, is coming up roses.
Nature-inspired prints and patterns are commonplace, of course, and S/S 2024 collections from Dolce & Gabbana to Marc Jacobs were alive with bold floral motifs. The trend has percolated down to the high street too, with meadows and gardens writ large everywhere from abstract floral print dresses at M&S to H&M adverts where models frolic among the flowers. But what is most notable recently is how global fashion houses have been seeking out garden and planting designers to create the backdrops for their runway shows.
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Dior took its Cruise show to the next level by showcasing the collection in the open air in the actual gardens of Drummond Castle in Scotland. Clad in tartan, tweed and cashmere, the models paraded their wares before the dramatic setting of the house and gardens.
At Milan Fashion Week back in February, Prada models walked on a glass catwalk suspended above a garden of moss, ferns and fallen leaves (it was the autumn/winter collection, naturally).
In May, landscape and garden design studio Cargill Sykes collaborated with Bureau Betak on the production of Sabato De Sarnos' Gucci Cruise 2025 show, which took place in the underground ‘tanks’ of the Tate Modern in London. Rather than using the space as a stark and industrial backdrop, they transformed it into a lush jungle.
“We developed the planting plan working with Jamie Butterworth’s Form Plants, his brilliant planting teams and with florist Mary Jane Vaughn and hers,” explains Duncan. “This planting, a tapestry of freshness and renewal saw the raw concrete of the Tanks ‘invaded by a poetic panorama of greenery’ in Sabato's words.”
The 10,000 plants that the 30-strong team adorned the space with included ferns and grasses, creating the effect of a botanical tapestry. Pioneer species of trees and shrubs were also included, such as hornbeam and field maple.
Similarly, at Paris Fashion Week in October 2023, award-winning landscape designer Luciano Giubbilei created a Tuscan-meadow-inspired planting scheme for fashion house Hermès. Gardener and planting designer Jonny Bruce led a team of gardeners planting swathes of grasses to create a frothy autumnal backdrop for the show at Garde Republicaine in Paris. “It is creatively exciting to see high fashion combined with quality horticulture,” Jonny says. “What Luciano created for Hermès was truly beautiful.”
It is creatively exciting to see high fashion combined with quality horticulture.
And it's not just for catwalk shows that they are embracing planty types. In summer 2022, garden designer Sarah Price was asked to create a temporary garden for Hermès London Bond Street in the empty courtyard of the former Time and Life Building.
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History repeating
It’s not the first time we’ve seen this sort of dalliance between high fashion and horticulture. “Throughout history, plants have played a fundamental role in fashion,” explains garden historian Stephen Parker, “as dye, fibre, fabric, fragrance and inspiration. Who can forget the iconic Miranda Priestly character in The Devil Wears Prada sarcastically responding to a suggestion for a spring fashion spread: ‘Florals? For spring? Groundbreaking.’
"Cyclically, fashion designers have always been passionate creators of gardens," he continues. "Christian Dior made a garden at Château de La Colle Noire in the 1950s which inspired him and became the foundation for his New Look. Not to be outdone, Yves Saint Laurent bought and then restored Le Jardin Majorelle in Marrakesh; and Dries Van Noten retired this season to concentrate fully on his other passion, his garden near Antwerp.”
Who can forget Miranda Priestly sarcastically responding to a suggestion for a spring fashion spread: ‘Florals? For spring? Groundbreaking.’
“Garden themes generally come up in Spring/Summer or Cruise collections," says Marc O’Neill, a former clothes designer turned gardener-designer, "and any new creative director will inevitably make references to the original designer’s love of gardens. In my experience, a lot of fashion people take influence from each other, even if they don’t think so, which has probably resulted in more garden backdrops recently.”
So it may not be a new relationship between gardens and fashion, but somehow this time it does feel like a more serious collaboration. It’s not just flirting with a few floral prints - it's a full-on love affair, to the point where high fashion is innately inspired by the outdoors. Maybe this time, it’s different.
Increasing influence
The Chelsea Flower Show is the catwalk of the garden world, of course, and as well as attracting record numbers of celebrity visitors, it is also now seeing big fashion brands as sponsors, with online favourite ME + EM supporting a garden installation by MHLK Collective this year.
There was, too, a noticeable rise in the number of gardening TV presenters such as Arit Anderson and Frances Tophill, as well as gardening influencers such as Pollyanna Wilkinson and August Bernstein, listing the makers of the outfits they were wearing to the show. Yes - people are actually interested in what gardeners are wearing.
Could gardening actually be - whisper it – cool now? It does seem like clothing brands are keen to align themselves with the green-fingered, with ‘young fogey’ favourite TOAST recently collaborating with a slew of working head gardeners including Errol Reuben Fernandes of the Horniman Museum, and Troy Scott-Smith of Sissinghurst.
From cider-makers to rhubarb farmers, people across the horticulture and agriculture industry are clad in dreamy workwear from brands like Lucy & Yak on their socials - hashtag gifted. This has led to the coining of the term ‘allotment chic’ and 'gardencore' to describe the signature look, which includes chore jackets, like Monty Don’s beloved blue workwear blazer. There’s even a new brand called Mad About Land that sells itself as chic clothing for gardeners, endorsed by garden designer Tom Massey.
“The slightly ‘uncool’ has a way of eventually becoming cool,” says model-turned-gardener Sharnee Gates. “Take French workwear, dungarees and gardeners’ denim coats paired with corduroy trousers - all once considered drab and unfashionable.”
The reason for this change, she thinks, is that people are beginning to see gardening as an alternative lifestyle. “This newfound appreciation reflects a deeper cultural shift towards authenticity and sustainability, not just as buzzwords but a way of dressing, speaking and living.”
Career changers
In fact it seems that the gardener ethos and lifestyle has become so cool that it is enticing many former fashionistas to retrain in horticulture - like Marc O’Neill. “My decision to leave was purely based on a desire to do something creatively different until my 70s,” he explains. “I gardened to wind down when I worked long hours in the clothing industry. The fashion world can still be ageist,” he admits, “but gardening is not.”
Sharnee Gates worked as a fashion model for nine years, appearing in the pages of Bazaar and Vogue, before retraining recently in horticulture and starting a job as head gardener at The Old Rectory, a four-acre private estate in East Sussex designed by Arne Maynard.
But why on earth did she trade such a glamorous career for the garden, and designer dresses for mucky boots? “I was flying lots and feeling very isolated,” she explains. “Australia, where I am from, had its worst bush fires in 2019 and it really hit home for me that I was so disconnected from nature and that I was impacting it. Lockdown hit and gave me the opportunity for a change, so I worked at the London Wildlife Trust and volunteered at Painshill landscape garden, and I fell in love with gardening.”
She pursued the RHS Apprenticeship, before working at RHS Garden Wisley in Surrey and gaining her present position. We shouldn’t be so surprised by these moves, she says, because people in fashion and gardening share a lot of qualities. “They are mad enough to chase ideals, hardworking and highly artistic, drawing inspiration from colours, forms and textures. It’s a natural evolution from the fashion house to the garden.”
Environmental concerns
Relationships are hard, however, and while gardening does have its own sustainability battles to fight, it is nothing to the wasteful ways of the clothing industry - fashion production is estimated to make up 10 per cent of all of humanity’s carbon emissions. Many gardeners, used to working with nature and thinking about what is best for the planet, will struggle with the sort of flagrant consumption that is taken for granted in fashion.
The plants used for the Hermès catwalk show Jonny Bruce led on did go on to have a second life, but with a tight turnaround to bring the project to fruition, he admits that it was difficult to keep everything sustainable. “We had less than three months to plan, source plants and install,” he says. “This meant decisions were made which resulted in unnecessary waste. If fashion houses could plan a show over a longer time frame, then more steps could be taken to reduce environmental impact.”
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In an Instagram post after the show, Jonny was open about his misgivings, saying: “It would be dishonest to say I didn’t have very mixed feelings about this project. Such an incredible effort for a catwalk show lasting just 15 minutes. The clothes and models looked stunning but there were few environmental silver linings.”
The plants from the Gucci Cruise show at the Tate also had a second life, going to a new community garden in north Kensington, London. Life under the Westway: Maxilla Gardens is a project spearheaded by Grow to Know, a non-profit founded by ex-footballer Tayshan Hayden-Smith and garden TV presenter Danny Clarke, who were both at the catwalk show. Supported by the Mayor of London and the RHS, the new green space for local residents is an example of the good that can come from fresh thinking and better partnerships between gardening and fashion.
However, many feel there is a danger that using plants in runway shows can be a way to help ‘greenwash’ and soften a brand’s environmental image. Jonny still believes it is valuable to see the two industries working together. “It is creatively exciting to see high fashion combined with quality horticulture. The intersection of these creative fields is where we can gain the most inspiration. It was a fascinating experience and I’m proud of what we created.”
Head gardener Sharnee also feels that collaborations like this are valuable, and they might signify a gradual move towards a slower lifestyle. “Fashion houses are increasingly keen on authentically creating a sustainable look and feel for their brands,” she says.
Fashion houses are increasingly keen on authentically creating a sustainable look and feel for their brands.
“As they shift towards more ethical practices to meet consumer demands, it only makes sense to highlight their slower, more deliberate processes and commitment to a greener lifestyle. In a world that’s constantly speeding up, the gardener embodies the quintessential ‘slow down and grow something’ ethos, perfectly aligning with the values of sustainability and mindful living.”
Whilst fashion may be leagues behind on an environmental level, it’s clear that the industry’s connection with horticulture is set to continue, and we can hope, might offer a deeper, lasting influence this time.
