diff --git a/src/skins/vector/css/_common.scss b/src/skins/vector/css/_common.scss
index bf742cd0c5..0802c1cab2 100644
--- a/src/skins/vector/css/_common.scss
+++ b/src/skins/vector/css/_common.scss
@@ -23,12 +23,7 @@ html {
 }
 
 body {
-    /* Open Sans lacks combining diacritics, so these will fall through
-       to the next font.  Helevetica's diacritics however do not combine
-       nicely with Open Sans (on OSX, at least) and result in a huge
-       horizontal mess.  Arial empirically gets it right, hence prioritising
-       Arial here. */
-    font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif;
+    font-family: $font-family;
     font-size: 15px;
     background-color: $primary-bg-color;
     color: $primary-fg-color;
@@ -73,7 +68,7 @@ input[type=text]:focus, input[type=password]:focus, textarea:focus {
 
 /* Required by Firefox */
 textarea {
-    font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif;
+    font-family: $font-family;
 }
 
 /* Prevent ugly dotted highlight around selected elements in Firefox */
@@ -211,7 +206,7 @@ textarea {
     border: solid 1px $accent-color;
     font-weight: 600;
     font-size: 14px;
-    font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif;
+    font-family: $font-family;
     margin-left: 0px;
     margin-right: 8px;
     padding-left: 1.5em;
@@ -304,7 +299,8 @@ textarea {
 }
 
 .changelog_text {
-    font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif;
+    // why on earth is this needed? and with the wrong namespacing? >:(
+    font-family: $font-family;
 }
 
 .mx_Beta {
diff --git a/src/skins/vector/css/themes/_base.scss b/src/skins/vector/css/themes/_base.scss
index a13c517bd0..a67d200158 100644
--- a/src/skins/vector/css/themes/_base.scss
+++ b/src/skins/vector/css/themes/_base.scss
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+/* Open Sans lacks combining diacritics, so these will fall through
+   to the next font.  Helevetica's diacritics however do not combine
+   nicely with Open Sans (on OSX, at least) and result in a huge
+   horizontal mess.  Arial empirically gets it right, hence prioritising
+   Arial here. */
+$font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif;
 
 // typical text (dark-on-white in light skin)
 $primary-fg-color: #454545;
diff --git a/src/skins/vector/css/themes/_status.scss b/src/skins/vector/css/themes/_status.scss
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b1d8b0ef2e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/skins/vector/css/themes/_status.scss
@@ -0,0 +1,155 @@
+@font-face {
+    font-family:PostGrotesk-Medium;
+    src:url(../fonts/PostGrotesk-Medium.eot);
+    src:url(../fonts/PostGrotesk-Medium.eot?#iefix) format("embedded-opentype"),url(../fonts/PostGrotesk-Medium.woff) format("woff"),url(../fonts/PostGrotesk-Medium.svg#PostGrotesk-Medium) format("svg");
+    font-weight: 400;
+    font-style: normal;
+}
+
+@font-face {
+    font-family:PostGrotesk-Book;
+    src:url(../fonts/PostGrotesk-Book.eot);
+    src:url(../fonts/PostGrotesk-Book.eot?#iefix) format("embedded-opentype"),url(../fonts/PostGrotesk-Book.woff) format("woff"),url(../fonts/PostGrotesk-Book.svg#PostGrotesk-Book) format("svg");
+    font-weight: 400;
+    font-style: normal;
+}
+
+// We deliberately prioritise Arial over Helvetica here due to diacritic problems (see _base.scss)
+// N.B. that the status.im website uses:
+// font-family:PostGrotesk-Book,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;
+// ...but can't be bothered to work out how the apple fonts & segoe interact, so keepingn it simple for now.
+
+$font-family: PostGrotesk-Book, Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif;
+
+// typical text (dark-on-white in light skin)
+$primary-fg-color: #70808D;
+$primary-bg-color: #EEF2F5;
+
+// ***** Status theme specifics ******
+$header-color: #49555F;
+$header-font-family: PostGrotesk-Medium, Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif;
+
+h1,h2,h3,h4,h5 {
+    color: $header-color;
+    font-family: $header-font-family;
+    font-weight: 400 ! important;
+}
+
+// used for dialog box text
+$light-fg-color: #747474;
+
+// used for focusing form controls
+$focus-bg-color: #dddddd;
+
+// button UI (white-on-green in light skin)
+$accent-fg-color: #ffffff;
+$accent-color: #76CFA6;
+
+$selection-fg-color: $primary-bg-color;
+
+$focus-brightness: 125%;
+
+// red warning colour
+$warning-color: #ff0064;
+$mention-user-pill-bg-color: #ff0064;
+$other-user-pill-bg-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
+
+$group-alert-color: #774f7e;
+
+$preview-bar-bg-color: #f7f7f7;
+
+// left-panel style muted accent color
+$secondary-accent-color: #eaf5f0;
+
+// used by RoomDirectory permissions
+$plinth-bg-color: $secondary-accent-color;
+
+// used by RoomDropTarget
+$droptarget-bg-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.5);
+
+// used by AddressSelector
+$selected-color: #eaf5f0;
+
+// selected for hoverover & selected event tiles
+$event-selected-color: #f7f7f7;
+
+// used for the hairline dividers in RoomView
+$primary-hairline-color: #e5e5e5;
+
+// used for the border of input text fields
+$input-border-color: #f0f0f0;
+
+// apart from login forms, which have stronger border
+$strong-input-border-color: #c7c7c7;
+
+// used for UserSettings EditableText
+$input-underline-color: rgba(151, 151, 151, 0.5);
+$input-fg-color: rgba(74, 74, 74, 0.9);
+
+// context menus
+$menu-border-color: rgba(187, 187, 187, 0.5);
+$menu-bg-color: #f6f6f6;
+
+$avatar-initial-color: #ffffff;
+
+$h3-color: #3d3b39;
+
+$dialog-background-bg-color: #e9e9e9;
+$lightbox-background-bg-color: #000;
+
+$greyed-fg-color: #888;
+
+$neutral-badge-color: #dbdbdb;
+
+$preview-widget-bar-color: #ddd;
+$preview-widget-fg-color: $greyed-fg-color;
+
+$blockquote-bar-color: #ddd;
+$blockquote-fg-color: #777;
+
+$settings-grey-fg-color: #a2a2a2;
+
+$voip-decline-color: #f48080;
+$voip-accept-color: #80f480;
+
+$rte-bg-color: #e9e9e9;
+$rte-code-bg-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.04);
+$rte-room-pill-color: #aaa;
+
+// ********************
+
+$roomtile-name-color: rgba(69, 69, 69, 0.8);
+$roomtile-selected-bg-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);
+$roomtile-focused-bg-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);
+
+$roomsublist-label-fg-color: $h3-color;
+$roomsublist-label-bg-color: #d3efe1;
+
+// ********************
+
+// event tile lifecycle
+$event-encrypting-color: #abddbc;
+$event-sending-color: #ddd;
+$event-notsent-color: #f44;
+
+// event redaction
+$event-redacted-img: url('../../img/redacted.jpg');
+
+// event timestamp
+$event-timestamp-color: #acacac;
+
+$edit-button-url: "../../img/icon_context_message.svg";
+$copy-button-url: "../../img/icon_copy_message.svg";
+
+// e2e
+$e2e-verified-color: #76cfa5; // N.B. *NOT* the same as $accent-color
+$e2e-unverified-color: #e8bf37;
+$e2e-warning-color: #ba6363;
+
+/*** ImageView ***/
+$lightbox-bg-color: #454545;
+$lightbox-fg-color: #ffffff;
+$lightbox-border-color: #ffffff;
+
+// unused?
+$progressbar-color: #000;
diff --git a/src/skins/vector/css/themes/status.scss b/src/skins/vector/css/themes/status.scss
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..391026b2b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/skins/vector/css/themes/status.scss
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+@import "_base.scss";
+@import "_status.scss";
+@import "../_components.scss";
diff --git a/webpack.config.js b/webpack.config.js
index 5d4fef72a9..1e134495ce 100644
--- a/webpack.config.js
+++ b/webpack.config.js
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ module.exports = {
         // CSS themes
         "theme-light": "./src/skins/vector/css/themes/light.scss",
         "theme-dark": "./src/skins/vector/css/themes/dark.scss",
+        "theme-status": "./src/skins/vector/css/themes/status.scss",
     },
     module: {
         preLoaders: [