Carrie Symonds Just Wore One Of Instagram’s Favourite Brands

While the physical appearance of women in the public eye will inevitably (and depressingly) be scrutinised by the world, some have found a way to turn such attention into something altogether more positive. Take the Duchess of Cambridge, for example, who regularly exhibits a very diplomatic form of dressing, representing both British designers and high street brands. The Duchess of Sussex, too, often chooses sustainable brands and those run by women. It seems Carrie Symonds is following a similar path, as illustrated by her latest choice of dress.

Joining her fiancé, the Prime Minister, at the polls yesterday, Symonds wore a dress from O Pioneers, a slow fashion label founded by Clara Francis and Tania Hindmarch. Created in North London, the brand uses end of stock, heritage fabrics, meaning most of the designs are limited edition or even one-off creations.

Tapping into the prairie dress phenomenon early on, O Pioneers has enjoyed particular success on Instagram, where influencers and celebrities alike have posted photographs of themselves wearing some of these glorious dresses. When the pandemic hit, it was one of the first labels to produce face masks to match its designs.

O Pioneers is not the first slow fashion label Symonds has chosen. In November of last year, she wore a green midi dress from Seraphina, which manufactures all of its clothes in India–the place where founder, Fiona Hodges, really fell in love with the idea of sewing and dressmaking - and prides itself on its sustainable fashion credentials and short supply chain.

Both of these labels were founded – and are run – by women. And when she's not championing independent British labels? Symonds is repping the high street, wearing everything from Ghost to & Other Stories to Whistles.

Sadly, Symonds' exact O Pioneers dress has now sold out but the brand offers a wealth of other styles, each as pretty as the next. They're the kind of dresses you'll want to wear all summer – and then with tights and boots as the autumn dissolves into winter.