Newsflash: Adut Akech (above) has a new job. The Australian model proved there’s no end to her talents when she hosted the Green Carpet Awards in Milan on Sunday evening. She proved herself a charismatic public speaker, and easily held her own alongside her co-host, the debonair Spanish model Jon Kortajarena.
Voluminous, floor-length, off-the-shoulder aqua Valentino might have upstaged a lesser woman. Not Akech, who looked positively regal in it, accessorised with natural, sustainably-sourced Chopard diamonds. The silk was GOTS-certified organic. She made a powerful point: that sustainability can be glamorous. In case you were in any doubt.
This was the third annual Green Carpet Awards held at the city’s famed La Scala on the closing night of Milan Fashion Week, and elevating sustainability into the realm of high chic. Organised by Livia Firth’s Eco-Age in conjunction with the Italian national fashion association, Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, it has become a go-to event on the international sustainability calendar (yes, that’s now a thing).
This year’s big gong, the Legacy Award, went to the 87-year-old Valentino Garavani and was presented by one of his favourite clients from his heyday as a Roman couturier, Sophia Loren.
The event celebrates sustainable innovation, craftsmanship and activism with a focus on the Italian industry, but it’s being in the presence of the likes of Loren, and revelling in what everyone wears, that gives it mainstream appeal.
Livia Firth knows her maths: celebrity sparkle plus black tie event equals headlines. She’s been applying this equation to her activism for years – ever since she turned her first red-carpet appearance, on the arm of husband Colin Firth, into a talking point for sustainable fashion back in 2010. “I wanted to use my platform to show that green fashion can be fabulous,” she tells Vogue Australia.
On Sunday, she channelled old Hollywood in shimmering Armani Privé – from 2004! – again teamed with Chopard. Who needs new when you can shop your wardrobe and look this good?
Stella McCartney, the recipient of this year’s GCFA Groundbreaker Award, dressed presenters Amber Valletta and Shailene Woodley. The latter handed a statue for Eco Stewardship to the gondoliers of Venice – who are now wearing wool again, in the form of their iconic striped jerseys, for the first time in close to a century.
Sinéad Burke, the Irish fashion journalist and inclusivity activist (who is headed to Australia next month to speak a James Street Resort event in Brisbane) wore custom-made Roksanda – the fabric repurposed from another dress.
But perhaps unsurprisingly it was the models who stole the spotlight.
Doutzen Kroes (above), who won the Social Media Changemaker Award for her #NotOnMyPlanet campaign to save the elephants, opted for Max Mara. Her three-piece was made organic silk crepe de chine and featured a cropped padded jacket, the filling made from upcycled offcuts from the brand’s iconic camel coats. They’ve invented a new technical innovation, which turns waste fabric into an insulating material. It won them a well-deserved GCFA gong.
More upcycling: the fabric for Isabeli Fontana’s Marni dress was made from recycled PET bottles, and hand painted with water-based pigments.
Alessandra Ambrosio (above) and Izabel Goulert both chose gowns from the Etro archives, specially finished for the event with repurposed components from previous samples. Toni Garrn donned an old Alberta Ferretti number, pre-loved by none other than Taylor Swift – the singer wore it to the Grammys in 2014. “Why not make use of what’s already in existence?” said Garrn. “Especially when it’s this beautiful.” Why not indeed.
Elisa Sednaoui also opted for Alberta Ferretti, this time a golden gown cut from GOTS certified organic silk, made in Italy and embroidered with upcycled paillettes cut from deadstock materials from past collections.
Special mention goes to Lou Doillon, whose dress was hand-embellished by the artisans behind I Was A Sari, a Gucci-backed social enterprise that repurposes pre-loved saris while training and empowering a new generation of female embroiderers in Mumbai. Seven of these brilliant creatives journeyed to Milan to accept their Responsible Disruption Award, most of them having never left India before.
I asked one of them if she was intimidated to take the stage at La Scala. “No,” she smiled. “I am proud to show off my work.” She is the first woman in her family to learn this highly skilled embroidery work traditionally the preserve of men from her community.
My own dress also has an Indian connection. It was custom-made by Melbourne-based Indian designer Benjamin Garg, whose work appears in the September issue of Vogue Australia. He uses a hand-loomed muslin cloth known as Kota Doria, once supported by royal patronage and still produced in towns and villages in south eastern Rajasthan. This, he has pigment-dyed in Melbourne, using a colouring process that requires less water and lower temperatures.
For more, scroll on to see who wore what to the 2019 Green Carpet Awards.
Candice Swanepoel
Barbara Palvin
Dylan Sprouse
Izabel Goulard
Izabel-Goulart, Elsa Hosk and Alessandra Ambrosio
Olivia Palermo
Stella McCartney
Elsa Hosk
Arizona Muse
Jasmine Sanders
Pixie Geldof and George Barnett
Isabeli Fontana
Ian Somerhalder
He Cong
Elisa Sednaoui
Giulia Sale
François Henri Pinault and Livia Giuggioli Firth
Eva Riccobono
Eric Underwood
Doina Ciobanu
Colin Firth and Livia Giuggioli Firth
Catherine Poulain
Anna Dello Russo
Amber Valletta
Amanda Lear
Amanda Cronin
Alessandro Michele and Marco Bizzarri
Lou Doillon
Adut Akech and Pierpaolo Piccioli
Thais Souza Wiggers
Toni Garrn
Valentina Scambia
Xenia Adonts
Yasmin Wijnaldum
Jess Glynne
Kat Graham
Sophia Loren and Valentino Garavani
Kerry Olsen Marchetti and Federico Marchetti
Sinead Burke
Larsen Thompson
Lea T
Leonie Hanne
Maria Borges
Marica Pellegrinelli
Melissa Satta
Sara Cavazza Facchini
Sita Bellan