Never mind the catwalks of New York, Paris, Milan and London, the red carpet at the Oscar’s is the place to check out the latest high fashion trends. Who is wearing what has become almost as important as who takes home the coveted golden statuettes.
While this year's 'runway' was sprinkled with Armanis and Diors, Twilight star Kellan Lutz and former Bond girl Olga Kurylenko made fashion statements of a different kind - turning the red carpet green with unique, sustainable designs created by Red Carpet Green Dress.
Now, in it’s fifth year, the Red Carpet Green Dress (RCGD) challenge is a contest for innovative designers to showcase stunning fashion made to the highest environmental standards possible. This year's winning designs by Alice Elia and H Brothers were last night showcased to the whole world at the 86th Academy Awards ceremony.
Olga’s dress and Kellan’s tuxedo marry green design with intricate couture worthy of the Hollywood glamour - made from GOTS certified organic silk and naturally dyed with extracts from Sappan wood or derived from recycled plastic bottles respectively. These designs give us a glimpse into the fashion industry’s potential to make clothing that doesn’t pollute our planet.
Sustainable, environmentally friendly fashion like this should not be the exception, it should be the norm.
Greenpeace is calling on brands to rid their clothes and production processes of hazardous chemicals. Already people-power has helped us convince 20 companies, including Burberry and Valentino, to commit to making beautiful fashion that doesn’t cost the earth. We need industry-wide change to fix a broken fashion system, but Greenpeace also supports forward thinking initiatives like RCGD which are showing the world that sustainable is beautiful.
Fashionable Lies
RCGD might have been turning the carpet green but, unfortunately, the same cannot be said for many of the other fashion labels that filled the Oscar’s ceremony. Greenpeace International's latest investigation showed the presence of hazardous chemicals in children's clothing made by luxury brands like Dior, Versace, Louis Vuitton and Dolce&Gabbana.
Despite calls from around the world to create toxic-free fashion, these brands keep hiding behind their increasingly unfashionable lies.
Take Action
Be part of the growing movement to clean up fashion. Demand brands like Versace and Dolce&Gabbana Detox our clothes and our future now: www.greenpeace.org/thekingisnaked
Chiara Campione is the Fashion Duel Project Leader at Greenpeace Italy who Tweets @ChiaraCampione
Photo of Olga Kurylenko & Kellan Lutz at the Oscars by Matt Petit/A.M.P.A.S