Natalie Portman Discusses Animal Agriculture, Social Issues at LVMH
The Dior ambassador encouraged employees to cut meat consumption for environmental benefits during LVMH's daylong conference.
PARIS — Natalie Portman and Kevin Germanier added a dose of glamor to LVMH's Life 360 conference, closing out the daylong conference Thursday night.
Germanier showed Prélude, the first collection made from 100 percent upcycled materials from LVMH houses, in an example of what the group hopes to do with its new LVMH Circularity initiative that intends to repurpose unsold goods.
Models walked among the UNESCO delegates' desks in the General Assembly. Germanier presented a wide swathe of looks, ranging from a bright pink suit to sporty outerwear with gently sloping, rounded shoulders as well as a dress using small loops to create a bouncy fringe. Pencil skirts were crisp yet pleats cleverly circled up at the waist for an added dimension, and that trick was taken even further to create a wrap top on a sunshine yellow dress.
A woven bomber that was created from seven previous pieces had a luxurious texture and subtle sheen.
The 15-item collection stayed away from the mix-and-match, patchwork territory often associated with upcycled works. It looked polished and not pieced together.
“It was to showcase the innovation, but also the heritage,” he said of creating a collection up to the standards of an LVMH brand. “We wanted to make it to the highest level. When people think about upcycling, they think of Frankenstein or boho chic. We wanted to show the future of upcycling and what is possible.”
Instead of repurposing a jacket into another jacket, he broke down each piece completely. As a result the collection was as much about design as it was about textile innovation and reimagining materials, Germanier said.
He worked with seven houses in the LVMH stable to source fabrics — some selected, some given and all a new challenge. Many had visible logos, and he took care to use unique techniques such as disassembling the fabrics to re-weave them into new textiles.
He also used T-shirts to create a new material that resembled fur and ground down offcuts into a powder mixed with resin to create buttons and other hardware. In the production process, he reused patterns to cut down on sample waste.
Prélude hints at a beginning and Germanier hopes that this collection might not be the last under the new moniker.
“When we started this project there was one rule — it was that we would show it if it was beautiful and desirable — and it happened,” said LVMH head of image and environment Antoine Arnault.
Arnault was joined on stage by Dior ambassador Natalie Portman, clad in a black cape dress from the brand, for a conversation that centered on the effects of animal agriculture.
The dedicated vegan discussed the common causes of animal welfare, environmental and social justice, as slaughterhouse workers are often undocumented migrants and refugees who are damaged by the emotional, environmental and physical effects of the work.
“You have this real intersection of people doing really unsavory and dangerous jobs…you have these vulnerable immigrant populations at the core of this meat processing, and you see how it affects the outlying communities,” she said. “The social issues are very intersectional with the environmental issues.”
Portman said she is “absolutely not a policy expert,” but that governments have a role in regulating, incentivizing environmental standards and creating economic consequences for those that don't clean up their business practices.
Portman noted that she backs up her beliefs by investing in startups. She is an investor in MycoWorks, which makes a mushroom-based leather alternative, and La Vie foods, the French start-up behind a bacon alternative.
Arnault pointed out that LVMH is working with mushroom leather Mirim, under the Stella McCartney label, and that the technology is improving with every collection.
“I think it's really motivating to consumers when they don't have a difference in the quality of the material…at the luxury price,” Portman agreed. “That's the dream.”
Asked what advice she would give to employees at LVMH who are thinking of ways to improve the environment, Portman suggested cutting back on the consumption of animals. “I think we forget about it and we forget about it within companies, and it's a lot of waste and consumption that we contribute to when eating animal products,” she said. “It's not often paid attention to in terms of these conversations but it's a big thing everyone can do themselves three times a day.”
Portman was the second speaker of the day to raise the animal welfare issue, notably following Stella McCartney who also addressed the link between animal products, agriculture, environmental and labor issues from the main stage at UNESCO during the conference for a company that is one of the top leather goods producers in the world.