Green Mixed in with Oscar Gold


Colin and Livia Firth walking the red carpet at the 2012 Oscars. The Valentino dress Livia's wearing is made from recycled PET fabric.

At the Sunday night, Livia Firth was a vision in red.

The wife of last year鈥檚 Best Actor winner, Colin Firth, Livia wore the Valentino gown like it was a prize, smiling her way down the red carpet. She has reason to don such a grin: Since 2009, her has dared celebrities to think about aesthetics and environmental ethics when choosing their awards-show clothing. This year, GCC鈥檚 third, saw bigger and more stars taking up the cause鈥攃elebs like Meryl Streep.

You can鈥檛 really get much bigger than Streep, who won Best Actress for The Iron Lady, her third such trophy. The 17-time Oscar nominee wore a sweeping eco-dress made by designer . 鈥淭he gown is gold, full-length and made from eco-certified fabric sourced with help from the GCC,鈥 Firth writes for British Vogue. 鈥淚 could not be more delighted! Can you tell?鈥

Other stars participating in GCC at the 2012 Oscars included Viola Davis (nominated for Best Actress for The Help), Kenneth Branagh and Demian Bichir, who wore sustainable tuxes, and Firth鈥檚 husband, who, according to , re-wore last year鈥檚 Academy Awards garb.


For her part, Firth took great care in her outfit selection鈥攁nd catalogued the dressmaking process. 鈥淭he GCC team and Valentino met in Paris to talk fabric and worked hard to find the right balance of materials that would deliver the full Valentino effect and conform to the GCC criteria,鈥 she . 鈥淭he result is a real hybrid dress, the combination of an amazing recycled PET fabric along with the Valentino鈥檚 house silk for the beautiful sheer sleeves of the gown.鈥

Starting with the 2009 Venice film festival, and for every awards show since鈥攖hrough the Academy Awards this past weekend鈥擫ivia has worn entirely sustainable fashion, like the black Armani number in the photo at left.

Her gowns prove that beauty and sustainability can go hand in hand when it comes to high fashion. With any luck, Firth鈥檚 GCC mission鈥攖o 鈥渂ring sustainable style and innovation to the biggest entertainment events in the world鈥濃攚ill motivate more of world鈥檚 biggest celebrity influencers, like Streep, each year.

Livia Firth in an Armani gown made from recycled plastic bottles, for the Golden Globes. (Photo: Jason Olive, courtesy of .)