Flora McFarlane Returns to the Garden

Earlier this summer, on 8 May 2026, Scottish designer Flora McFarlane presented Return to the Garden throughout the galleries of Glasgow’s Burrell Collection. Drawing directly from the museum’s collection of approximately 9,000 objects, the show translated historical artefacts into contemporary fashion. Garments moved through the galleries alongside the objects that informed them, connecting the past, present and future of Scottish fashion.

The garden formed the core of the collection’s narrative. Across cultures and periods, gardens have repeatedly appeared in art and decorative objects, from textiles and tapestries to ceramics and furniture. For McFarlane, this universal motif became a way of examining the relationship between Glasgow’s nineteenth-century industrial wealth and the natural world. The collection reflected on the city’s monumental architecture and imagined it gradually being reclaimed by plants and organic forms.

The silhouettes made it visible: Inspired by the 19th century, McFarlane created looks that carried the tension between the underlying idea of structure and nature. She combined corseted, elongated shapes with surfaces that appeared to grow and unravel. Sculpted lines and exaggerated proportions on the hips echoed historical undergarments, while textured knits and lace were moulded into the looks that emphasised architectural construction. 

Rather than relying only on familiar symbols of Scottish fashion, such as Harris Tweed, McFarlane looked deeper into the Burrell’s archives, translating details from Chinese, French and medieval artworks into design. She also collaborated with several Scottish manufacturers, such as MYB Textiles, Scotland’s last remaining producer of Madras lace, to develop fabrics inspired by a tapestry from the Burrell Collection. Scottish Leather Group and Glasgow-based jewellery designer Kyle Ferguson were among other collaborations that united modern design and heritage craftsmanship. 

McFarlane graduated from the Glasgow School of Art in 2024 and has remained closely connected to her origin and the country’s design heritage. Her work is driven by romance and the idea of old-fashioned glamour reimagined for a contemporary audience. Dressing up, stepping into character and constructing narratives through fabric all sit at the centre of her practice. Her references move between contrasting forms of beauty, from Glasgow’s Victorian Neoclassical architecture and Brutalism to Aubrey Beardsley’s illustrations and David Hockney’s Pop paintings.

She previously worked in Scotland’s luxury knitwear industry at a Chanel-owned factory producing garments for houses like Hermès and Celine. This experience gave her a strong technical foundation, while also inspiring her and pointing towards building a more personal and narrative-driven practice. Her work has previously appeared in Icons of Style, an exhibition exploring sixty years of Scottish fashion, where her designs represented the emerging designers in the 2020s. 

Return to the Garden will continue in spring 2027 with an exhibition presenting the garments alongside sketchbooks, development materials and behind-the-scenes imagery. The second chapter will further connect Burrell’s historic objects with the contemporary craft practices they continue to inspire. The collaboration between the museum and designer became a way of inviting a new generation to explore the museum.