LONDON — Jeweler Monica Vinader and Mother of Pearl owner and creative director Amy Powney have created a capsule collection of shirts, cufflinks and jewelry with sustainable materials and practices at its core.
Vinadar and Powney have collaborated before, but this is the first time clothing has been involved. The Monica Vinader x Amy Powney collection launches on Monday.
Powney created two types of tailored shirts. One is a white shirt made from 100% recycled cotton, and the other is a denim-washed black style made from Tencel lyocell.
There are also five jewelery designs, including cufflinks, earrings, necklaces and rings, which are made from 100% recycled gold vermeil and ethically sourced pearls.
With voluptuous curves and a combination of poppy pearls and gold vermeil links, beads and bands, the jewelery complements the shirt but can also be worn alone.
The shirt, which comes with asymmetrical poppy pearl cufflinks, costs $495. Jewelry prices range from $178 for cufflinks or rings to $450 for T-bar necklaces.
Tailored white cotton shirts and pearl jewelry are the result of a collaboration between sustainable makers Monica Vinader and Amy Powney.
Vinader said her and Powney’s “shared values and creative passion for sustainability make them a powerful combination in co-designing impactful and beautiful pieces.”
Powney said he believes “creativity and collaboration can have a greater impact when we share our knowledge and passion.”
Winner of the 2022 Queen’s Award for Sustainable Development, Vinader also launched Product Passport, an industry-first initiative that allows customers to trace more than 60% of a brand’s style from mine to market .
She uses 100% recycled gold and sterling silver, conflict-free lab-grown diamonds, and natural gemstones. In August, she launched Odyssey, an aquamarine collection made from stones from Zimbabwe, Africa’s first gemstone mine managed and mined by an all-female team in Zimbabwe.
In addition to designing Mother of Pearl, Powney is also a sustainability campaigner and worked on the independent documentary Fashion Reimagined, which was released in 2022. The film chronicles her efforts to create a clothing collection “from field to finished product.”
Powney strives for transparency, investigating where our ingredients come from, who makes them, and looking at the social and environmental impact of the process.
In May 2023, she gave a TED talk about the fashion industry’s rapid expansion and pursuit of cheap clothing, calling for us to rethink the value of clothing and its connection to the natural world.
