Stylists, Eco

Jun 11, 2023

Climate advocate and writer Sophia Li believes the fashion world is on the cusp of an "innovation boom." Li — who attended the 2023 Green Carpet Fashion Awards in March wearing an architectural corset by sister-run vegan label Felder Felder made from a leather-like material created from mango waste from Fruitleather Rotterdam — sees lab-created synthetics and biomaterials ushering in "a new wave of fashion as we know it."

For stylists and consumers alike, determining what sustainability means to them can be a process, whether that be looking at the carbon footprint of materials to whether natural fibers are organic and ethically sourced and whether production is transparent. The process can be even trickier for the gleaming materials expected on the red carpet.

"There's such a nuance in that conversation" says Mary Fellowes, founder of GreenWith Studio, a London-based consulting agency, bridging fashion, sustainability and technology, that has worked with Stella McCartney, Balenciaga and Calvin Klein. (Also a stylist, Fellowes helped Olivia Colman infuse conscious-dressing into her The Favourite awards season run.)

For her part, Li finds the emergence of lab-created synthetics and bio-materials exciting. For statement leather alternatives, she looks to sources like Bolt Threads, which makes Mylo, a leather-like material made from mushroom root systems via renewable energy, as well as yeast-based Microsilk.

Last year, Stella McCartney, a Bolt Threads collaborator since 2017, introduced the chain-detailed Frayme Mylo bag ($2,650), the first luxury fungi-derived handbag to hit the consumer market.

And in February, biotech firm Modern Meadow, which focuses on protein-based technology, collaborated with Tory Burch on the brand's first plant-based bag. The Ella Bio's ($298-$348) outer shell is made from USDA-certified BioFabbrica Bio-Tex, derived from non-GMO soy grown in North America, and developed in a joint venture with Italian textile and material supplier Limonta. "Their own DNA is really about sustainability," says Modern Meadow CEO Catherine Roggero-Lovisi, highlighting Limonta's closed loop manufacturing. The new fabrication utilizes Modern Meadow's Bio-Alloy dyeing technology that gives high-performance options in bold color-ways on an expanded range of textiles, also by "reducing water by 95 percent and energy consumption by 65 percent," she adds.

Fellowes and her team have vetted a list of "materials that we think are significantly cleaner and greener" than petroleum-based synthetics. For silky draped looks, "Tencel Luxe would be my first port of call, if I wasn't doing deadstock or old season," says Fellowes about one of Lenzing's Tencel products made of cellulosic fiber derived from responsibly sourced wood pulp. For the 2023 Oscars, Zac Posen used Tencel Luxe for a bias-cut gown for RCGD Global ambassador and Avatar: The Way of Water star Bailey Bass. (RCGD Global, founded by Suzy Amis Cameron, has an ongoing collaboration with Tencel.)

Fellowes also suggests Global Recycled Standard (GRS)-certified Resilk, developed by family-run, energy-conserving Italian mill Mantero. The fine and soft regenerated silk fabric is made from silk production waste. They use some seriously clever technology," says Fellowes, nodding to emissions-saving photovoltaic energy and an LED lighting system, which saves upwards of 65% electricity consumption.

Fellowes is hoping for more innovation around "shiny, glittery, fabulous, glamorous things" for the red carpet.

She points to the bio-based sequins seen on the April cover of Vogue, where Cara Delevingne teased the future wearing a Stella McCartney jumpsuit glittering with BioSequins, created with startup Radiant Matter. This alternative to environmentally devastating sequins is plastic-free, non-toxic and biodegradable — but not yet commercially available.

Also, Kering Group's Material Innovation Lab (MIL), opened in 2013, continues to research and develop sustainable luxury materials, including a lurex-alternative through biodegradable glitters with woman-owned BioGlitz.

But, cautions Livia Giuggioli Firth, founder of both the Green Carpet Fashion Awards and of sustainability consultancy Eco-Age, "it's very important when we cover this subject to not make it only material-centric." With the eco-fabric sector in a nascent stage of consumer scalability, Firth says that a heavy focus on these high-tech alternatives "is almost a distraction." Plus, one-off, high-profile sustainable collaborations can even feel "tokenistic," she contends, while not fully addressing society's fast-fashion consumption that leads to 34 billion pounds of used textiles thrown into U.S. landfills each year — landfills that are 2.8 times more likely to be located near communities with higher percentages of BIPOC residents, according to a Boston University study.

Often, the most sustainable red carpet materials already exist: unused, leftover or remnant fabrics and fixtures. For the SAG Awards, stylist Laura Sophie Cox dressed Ayo Edebiri in an Emilia Wickstead checkered dress made from off-cuts. She also dressed Chevalier writer-producer Stefani Robinson in an elaborate floral-appliquéd Ronald van der Kemp corset gown made from deadstock. "You’re championing a brand who is fully transparent about their supply chain," says Cox.

This past Oscars, Patricia Voto, founder of One/Of, a made-to-order line in New York's Garment District that uses deadstock, custom-designed a resplendent white silk satin and chiffon tuxedo for Hannah Einbinder out of 100 percent upcycled materials. Voto, a Rosie Assoulin and Altuzarra alum, regularly taps her network of mills and vendors for unused luxury fabrics and embellishments, like Swarovski for opulent crystals to embellish Madison Beer's 2021 Met Gala emerald gown.

"It feels special," says Voto. "There's a lot of art in using what you have and just breathing life into it."

A version of this story first appeared in the May 10 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.

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