LONDON — Jeweler Monica Vinader and Amy Powney, the owner and creative director of Mother of Pearl, have created a capsule collection of shirts, cufflinks and jewelry with sustainable materials and practices at its core.
Although Vinader and Powney have collaborated before, this is the first time that clothing is in the mix. The collection, Monica Vinader x Amy Powney, will launch on Monday.
Powney has created two tailored shirts, a white one made from 100 percent regenerative cotton, and a denim-washed black style fashioned from Tencel Lyocell.
There are also five jewelry designs, including cufflinks, earrings, necklaces and rings, which are made from 100 percent recycled gold vermeil, and ethically sourced pearls.
The jewelry, which has sensual curves and marries keshi pearls and gold vermeil links, beads and bands, complements the shirts, but can also be worn alone.
The shirts, which come with a set of keshi pearl asymmetric cufflinks, are priced at $495. The jewelry ranges in price from $178 for a pair of cufflinks or a ring to $450 for a T-bar necklace.
The tailored, white cotton shirt and pearl jewelry, the fruit of a collaboration between sustainable makers Monica Vinader and Amy Powney.
Vinader said that she and Powney’s “shared values on sustainable pursuits, and creative passion, have been a powerful combination in co-designing beautiful pieces that have impact.”
Powney said she believes that “creativity and collaboration can be more impactful when we collectively share knowledge and passion.”
Vinader was a winner of the Queen’s Award for Sustainable Development in 2022, and also launched Product Passport, an industry-first initiative that allows customers to trace more than 60 percent of the brand’s styles from mine to market.
She uses 100 percent recycled gold and sterling silver, conflict-free and lab-grown diamonds, and natural gemstones. In August, she launched Odyssey, an aquamarine collection made with stones from Zimbaqua, Africa’s first gemstone mine that’s managed — and mined — by a women-only team in Zimbabwe.
In addition to designing Mother of Pearl, Powney is also a sustainability campaigner and was behind the independent documentary “Fashion Reimagined,” which came out in 2022. It documented her efforts to create a clothing collection “from field to finished garment.”
Powney strives for transparency, investigating where the raw materials come from, who is making them, and looking at the social and environmental impacts along the way.
In May 2023, she delivered a TED Talk on the rapid expansion of the fashion industry and the pursuit of cheap clothing, calling for everyone to reconsider the value of their clothing and its connection to the natural world.
