Fashioned from Nature, the Victoria & Albert Museum's next big fashion exhibition, opens this weekend, inviting audiences to "trace the complex relationship between fashion and the natural world" from 1600 to the present day. The split-level show explores how designers have been inspired by nature – from the feathers of birds to the fluidity of the sea – and how, at the same time, fashion has harmed our planet. Asking two questions – "How can we design a more sustainable fashion industry?" and "What can we learn from the past?" – the exhibition encourages us to analyse our relationship with the Earth and with clothes in 2018.