Lily Cole Joins Livia Firth on the Green Carpet Challenge
British model Lily Cole is newest supporter of Livia Firth’s eco-friendly initiative. Therefore, the Green Carpet Challenge big goal to incentive celebrities to repeat their red carpet dresses, instead of having them as style archives on the back of their closets. Meryl Streep and Cameron Diaz had joined Mrs. Firth’s quest before Lily Cole was re-wearing dresses she’s owned for years to recent red-carpet events – from the premiere of her new film Snow White and the Hunstman in London, to the Cannes Film Festival. Being an eco campaigner and face of The Body Shop, she was a great canditate to the Challenge!
On an interview published on Vogue.co.uk, the model spoke about recycling her closet.
How does it feel to wear an ‘old’ piece as you did recently at Cannes for the premiere of your new movie Snow White? Is it a different red carpet experience to wearing a new dress?
“No not at all, it felt more authentic. The reason it happened was that I felt it was absurd that I needed something new when I have so many nice dresses in my wardrobe. It was actually quite a relief to open my wardrobe and just pick something out. What is ridiculous is that this is interpreted as a slightly radical thought. It should be more the norm.”
Could it become the norm?
“I think it needs to be in a way. I don’t mean in every instance, but it shouldn’t be such an exception or an anomaly to do that. Otherwise you run the risk of perpetuating this myth that you can only wear things once, and everything has to be new and that nobody else can have worn them – because heaven forbid you might be photographed in the same dress as somebody else or yourself. I find the psychology of this so ridiculous. For me it’s just about being real, and not always playing that game. Actually there are plenty of actors or musicians who are quite maverick in choices of clothes they wear and where they get them from – you’ll know that from the Green Carpet Challenge. I don’t think I’m the only one!”
Do you think those who get the opportunity to be on the red carpet and those in fashion have a responsibility to promote a more ethical approach to fashion?
“I’m not opposed, it’s not like I’m never going to wear a new dress again, but I think everything is about balance. Yeah of course you can wear a new dress sometimes, and there are designers and an aesthetic that I’d like to celebrate. But I think you can get locked into a situation where you’ll only ever wear new things, and you’re locked in this highly commerce -orientated structure where you have to keep on buying and selling new things, and it doesn’t do anyone any favours. It doesn’t do me necessarily any favours in term of my relationship to my own wardrobe and being more authentic. But it also perpetuates this myth that fashion becomes out-dated in six months and that it’s irrelevant. I do really believe that if you buy something, you should like it enough that you’re going to be able to wear it out and in five years’ time. I’m not a huge fan of trends.”
So, do you think you could make a habit out of wearing old things on the red carpet?
“I just hope that I can treat that space, the red carpet, in the similar way I treat other events. Obviously it’s dressier than just going out for dinner, but I’d like to keep a similar attitude that I have when I go to a dinner or a party with friends. I could be wearing new things as well, but equally they could be something I already own.”
Did you find that people reacted negatively to you wearing something old?
“No I didn’t actually, it was the opposite. I got a really positive reaction. Because I think real people aren’t actually caught in that paradox: they see something and then they like it. I don’t know whether its publicity or the publicity machine but they’re the only people that want to find a picture of me in an old dress. On an individual level I don’t think anyone would actually want to question that. I think that is the point, without sounding too antagonistic, it is a symptom of the machine that is commerce and publicity and some magazines and systems of promotion that makes it slightly more challenging. That’s why the Green Carpet Challenge is a challenge in a way. Because I think individuals, whether it’s people reading magazines or people standing by the side of the red carpet, they look at the dress and think whether it does or doesn’t look nice. They don’t base that decision on anything else, such as whether you’ve worn it before.”
What do you think about the Green Carpet Challenge as a concept?
“It was curious actually because the Snow White carpet was green! I think it’s brilliant, what you’re trying to do. And obviously I’ve taken part. I think it’s both bold and necessary.”
Source: Vogue.co.uk.
