Flourishing Futures: Growing the Next Era of Fashion

A new collaboration between London College of Fashion (LCF), UAL’s MA Fashion Curation and Cultural Programming course and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is bringing together creativity, science, and sustainability in a groundbreaking curatorial project titled Flourishing Futures: Growing the Next Era of Fashion. The project forms part of Kew’s 2025 exhibition, Material World, which explores the interconnected threads of nature, culture, and material innovation.

Drawing on Kew’s world-renowned scientific collections, the exhibition examines how plants, fungi, and natural systems inspire the materials and practices that shape our future. Within this framework, students from MA Fashion Curation and Cultural Programming were invited to develop curatorial concepts that connect fashion and the environment through new, ethical, and imaginative approaches to design.

As part of an in-curriculum project, eight students worked together to create a full curatorial design package in response to Kew’s brief. Guided by academics Dr. Cyana Madsen and Jeffrey Horsley, the students developed proposals that integrated research, exhibition design, and public engagement strategies.

Following their presentation to Lorna Spada, Programmes Producer at Kew, and Rebecca Harfield, Visitor Programmes Manager, three students were selected to continue into the next phase of the project as consultants for the delivery of Material World. Their work supported the curatorial and interpretive design of the exhibition, which features contributions from LCF alumna Jessie Von Curry, among other leading designers exploring sustainable materials.

The consulting students contributed across multiple aspects of the exhibition’s development—from artist liaison and interpretation writing to the installation process within Kew’s Grade I listed exhibition spaces. This hands-on experience offered valuable insight into the collaborative nature of curatorial work, where communication between artists, institutions, and audiences is essential to realising a shared vision.

Through this process, students were able to test how curatorial and interpretive strategies can make complex ideas such as bio design, environmental ethics, and material innovation, accessible to diverse audiences. The project also emphasised public engagement, including the creation of an interactive element designed to help visitors better understand the environmental impact of fashion and explore small, practical actions for sustainable change.

For the participating students, Flourishing Futures was more than an academic project, it was a professional platform that bridged theory, practice, and impact. Working alongside Kew’s curatorial and visitor engagement teams provided a unique opportunity to experience the realities of delivering an exhibition within a major cultural institution, while applying critical and creative thinking to sustainability in fashion.

The collaboration reflects the ethos of MA Fashion Curation and Cultural Programming: to develop curators and cultural practitioners who can navigate the intersections of ethics, aesthetics, and public engagement. Through Flourishing Futures, the students have helped shape a conversation about how fashion can grow, literally and figuratively, toward more sustainable and interconnected futures.

You can read more about this project here.