“The gardens were overflowing with inspiration. It was so hard to make a decision on where to start,” Bullock says. “But I felt a real connection with the fountain—the focal point of the kitchen garden—covered in moss. It was a rather weird and wonderful shape. I also absolutely had to honor the bees. They’re an unmissable part of the garden, and especially important to the king. I loved how homely the garden felt—not too curated, and very liveable, so I hopefully captured that in the cascade prints.”
“We’ve always said that mother nature is the last great luxury house,” says Richard Christiansen, founder of Flamingo Estate, the lifestyle brand behemoth named after his own sumptuous homestead, set among perpetually golden-hour orchards and the rolling California hillsides. “We need her more than ever now. In uncertain, difficult times, nature gives us hope and a sense of tradition and permanence, which is so important.”
Christiansen, once an advertising executive, developed Flamingo Estate from a COVID-era project supporting local farmers selling vegetable boxes into over 50 products, like soaps made with Big Sur salt and candles scented with heirloom tomatoes, as well as farm boxes full of seasonal white peaches and asparagus. Flamingo Estate has collaborated with Kelly Wearstler on a California modernist-style gingerbread house, and produced a set of bronze garden tools with Campbell-Rey and a luxe cashmere blanket with The Elder Statesman. Quickly, he laid the roots for luxury fashion to find its own footing amid the mulching, weeding, and harvesting.
Flamingo Estate partnered with Burberry to celebrate the Highgrove collection in LA back in May before Christiansen set off to the Cotswolds. At his estate, guests tasted honey with a beekeeper, took a class in Japanese flower arranging, and made soap from fruits and plants harvested from the estate’s orchard and gardens. “The Highgrove Garden was always my dream,” Christiansen says. “It’s been on all of my moodboards and I have looked at every photo since I was a small child. It represents not just a beautiful garden, but all of the hands that tended to it. So to do that with the additional layer of traditional heritage from Burberry was a dream come true.”
As we departed Highgrove, Christiansen was studiously noting the gargantuan ivy scaling the king’s residence. Nara Smith discussed her hopes to have chickens in her own garden soon. A parade of the floral-flecked scarves, variously worn as neckerchiefs, bag adornments, and headbands, filed out on their way to Estelle Manor, the week’s Burberry bolthole.
Burberry’s rich archive still teems florals, which Eck gets to explore: there are the floral-themed print advertisements from 1867; the silk-lined, iris-dotted outerwear pieces from 1913; and ditsy runway prints, weaves, and embellishments from throughout the ’90s. “In 2003, Burberry created a gardening capsule comprising an apron, gloves, and a tool belt featuring garden motifs, which was whimsical and fun!” Eck says. “I look forward to acquiring our latest collection of Highgrove into the archive, which will be a fantastic reference for generations to come.”