Royal Curtains Transformed into Stylish Kimonos for Charity Auction
Arts students at the King's Foundation have turned vintage royal curtains from Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle into fashionable kimonos, following the suggestion of King Charles III. The unique pieces will be auctioned online to support the charity.
The initiative used fabrics from the curtain store rooms at Windsor Great Park in Berkshire, where out-of-use royal materials are stored and repaired. Students from the foundation’s batch production skills course transformed the historic royal cloth into contemporary, one-size-fits-all kimonos, demonstrating their creativity and skills while upcycling old fabric into modern fashion.
Jacqueline Farrell, the foundation’s education director, shared the students' excitement, stating, "It was like Christmas morning getting those bundles through and opening them all up, and rummaging to see what we'd got." She emphasised the challenge of designing something modern with such historic materials, with 30 fabric designs spanning over 40 years of royal curtain history from the 1950s to the 1990s.
Farrell also expressed hope that this initiative would inspire others nationwide to repurpose vintage materials creatively. "It's not just about making a collection to be sold," she said. "We hope this project will show what can be done with vintage materials in terms of repurposing and upcycling."
The auction will feature multiple kimonos, each taking eight to 10 hours to tailor by hand, and will run until the 8th December 2023. The absence of a set guide price allows for open bidding, with all proceeds contributing to the foundation's future textiles programme.
This inventive approach to fashion not only breathes new life into historical materials but also aligns with the King's commitment to sustainable practices, encouraging a broader conversation about the possibilities of repurposing old curtains for garments and craft pieces.
