Profile: Vega Hertel – Only Natural Design Competitions

Vega Hertel

University of the Arts London

As an intersectional environmentalist at heart and recent graduate of BA Menswear at London College of fashion, my work is grounded in solution building to reinvent our industry for future regenerative fashion systems that place people and the planet above profit. The last ten years I have dedicated to activism, hoping to use my creativity as a tool for active change. Each project I work on I see as a puzzle piece within this vision for an alternative future, teaching myself amongst other things, zero waste pattern cutting techniques and natural dyeing, working with nettles, flax and hand scoured alpaca fleeces and networking with other businesses to reuse their waste fabrics. The last year I have also spent working with community projects, educating myself on de-growth, soil-to-soil models that rebuild localised industry and focus on long lasting partnerships with craft artisans. All these pieces ‘jigsawed’ together accumulated in my most recent collection “Three pillars”, which takes a holistic approach to system change looking at ‘Materials (1)’ ‘Community (2)’ and ‘Education (3)’ and hopes to rebuild human relationships to one another and the natural fibers that make up our cloths. Recent work experience includes: Working as studio manager for Phoebe English, now freelancing for her and supporting artist Shane Waltener run workshops for the community project ‘The Flax Exchange’ teaching the ancient craft techniques used to process flax into linen. Upcoming work includes working for Making for Change, Phoebe English and workshops/exhibition at Kew Gardens.

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Three Pillars

Category: Apparel

Competitions: Fashion Competition 2025

The Three Pillars Textiles and Materials Community and Networks Education and Knowledge Exchange This collection is built on the "Three Pillars” of a Fibershed. Fibersheds are focused around communities, they connect farmers to mills to craft artisans that are all within a local radius with one another, promoting the creation of garments that can be worn in the same region as both the fibres, textiles and dyes came from. It also looks to the not-too-long-ago past, my great grandmother, a farmer who grew and made everything from her small village, Ernsthausen in central rural Germany. She still wore the traditional German Tracht till her passing in 2006, made from handwoven linens, cottons and wool, sewn by her sister. Referencing the craft in her clothing in combination with sustainable textiles techniques, it is the melding of new and old. An environmentally conscious collection that appreciates the tactility of the handmade whilst updating the form and function to fit a modern elegant style. Her evangelical faith inspires the monochrome tones of the white and purple collection, naturally dyed with screen printed mordants and logwood, a dye plant with strong wash resistance enhancing the garments longevity. The Collection targets a wearer who looks past just the visual appreciation of our clothes, who also sees the refined handwork and the long entangled story that each fibre has undergone to arrive at this very moment when they put on this piece. From patch worked bridal silk scraps to hand washed and felted alpaca wool, there is a refined handwork and labour of love that entangles each fibre, reminding us of the journey they have undergone to arrive at this very moment. Hours and hours, hands and fingers, the garments are understated artworks, hidden beauty in every moulded unique pleat or naturally dyed garb that hides the materials secret past lives.