BRITISH FASHION AWARDS
THE CELEBRITY RED CARPET, ONCE THE SHOWCASE OF GLAMOUR AND LUXURY, IS BECOMING A POWERFUL COMMUNICATION PLATFORM FOR WORLDLY CAUSES, AS CARMEN BELLOTT DISCOVERS AT THIS YEAR’S BRITISH FASHION AWARDS
Walk the Talk
The red carpet has always been a soapbox for fashion’s weird and wonderful. For years, the world’s familiar faces have donned controversial or exorbitant outfits in an attempt to implant themselves in the common imagination. Cue the green Versace dress that J Lo donned at the Grammys in 2000 – a frock so outstanding that Donatella Versace chose to feature an updated version to close the brand’s first show of 2020, in a bid to start the decade with a bang. Remember too, if you dare, the Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears double-denim look that the erstwhile couple sported down the red carpet in 2001 – a sight most of us would prefer to forget.
While fashion has the propensity to delight and surprise, it is often forgotten as a medium that can delve into politics and tackle issues of social concern. Recall 2010, when Lady Gaga walked down the red carpet wrapped in a dress made of fresh meat, in a reference to her Prime Rib of America speech that urged the US military not to discriminate against gay men and lesbians among the ranks. While her visual message was initially misinterpreted as a stand against animal farming, its boldness as a political act has given it a place in textile history.
Even more recently, in the wake of the #Me Too movement, Reese Witherspoon and Eva Longoria were among other women who wore black to the 2018 Golden Globe Awards to protest the gender pay gap. These women have positioned themselves as leaders of their political fight by attaching an agenda to their outfits.
Now in the Greta Thunberg generation, it seems that the fashion industry has decided to catch up. In a “woke” new decade, topics taking up space in our political landscape have seeped into the minds of those who decide what we wear. Terms such as sustainability and diversity are taken more seriously by the fashion industry than they are in parliament, and these issues have made their way to the mainstream from catwalks on to the red carpets and award-ceremony dressing.
This past December, the British Fashion Council hosted its annual accolades on an unsurprisingly chilly evening in London. Amid the designers and fashion editors that took to the red carpet, the usual celebrity suspects from across the pond and from local soil were dressed for the occasion. Among the many guests was one who drew much attention, as much for his crystal embedded outfit as his reputation for environmental activism – artist and writer, Wilson Oryema.
IT’S IMPORTANT THAT THE PEOPLE WHO WEAR MY CLOTHES IDENTIFY WITH THE MESSAGE BEHIND THEM — PATRICK MCDOWELL
A key figure bridging the gap between fashion and its impact on the environment (his first brush with fashion came when he was scouted to walk a Maison Margiela show) Oryema’s attendance at the sustainability-conscious British Fashion Awards is proof that the industry is striving for a greater good. While his poems were not the focus of this occasion, his activism sparkled through his outfit, in the form of a trench coat embedded with recycled Swarovski crystals designed by Patrick McDowell.
“It’s always really important for me that the people who wear my clothes identify with the message behind them,” says McDowell, whose approach to upcycling secured him a partnership with Swarovski even before he graduated from London arts-and-design college Central Saint Martins in 2018. “I was never so keen on just dressing someone because of the way they look. They have to also carry the message and Wilson does that so well.”
The Liverpool-born designer joiuned three other brands that collaborated with Swarovski for the fashion awards, all of whom are making waves by designing consciously with the environment in mind. For McDowell, the process of working with a global enterprise has opened his eyes to how big companies can do better. “[Swarovski] places equal value on things like their impact on the environment and wider social issues, which is why they started the Swarovski Foundation,” he says, referring to the brand’s charity division. “Even in the production of crystals that aren’t upcycled, they’re all sourced from non-finite sources. Everyone is paid a fair wage.”
It wasn’t just up-and-coming brands that Swarovski felt the need to embrace. The atelier collaborated with renowned sustainable designer Stella McCartney to dress supermodel muses Karen Elson, Joan Smalls and Amber Valetta. The joint effort clearly demonstrates that luxury can go hand in hand with sustainability.
“The red carpet is the ultimate showcase of glamour and luxury, but it’s also a powerful communication platform,” says Nadja Swarovski who has been a key force in transforming the brand into an innovator while making the crystal industry more environmentally conscious. “Our first Atelier Swarovski Find Jewellery Collection was created exclusively for the red carpet because we wanted to shine a spotlight on the possibilities of conscious luxury, to demonstrate that luxury can go hand-in-hand with sustainability.”
McCartney designed the four looks using predominantly sustainable viscose, a type of rayon fabric made from natural fibres. “We’ve been using [it] since 2016 and it’s fully traceable, coming from sustainably managed forests in Sweden,” McCartney explains. “It’s so important for fashion houses to start adopting this type of viscose, because every year 150 million trees are logged worldwide for fabric production while deforestation releases 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at the same time. Sustainable viscose ensures that no deforestation happens and endangered forests and communities are protected.” Each look is embellished with a trim of sparkling sustainably sourced crystals.
On the red carpet, the pairing of the two brands makes sense. As McCartney mentions, “Nadja and the team at Swarovski have a strong heritage of responsibility and are committed to offering conscious luxury, which is so important to us.”
The level of commitment demonstrated by the two brands has laid a solid foundation on which other brands can do the same, and on the night of the awards it was clear that they had the British Fashion Council on board.
While the carpet laid was a movie-star red, the background was green and lush, with a living wall of leaves serving as backdrop as stars made their way along for photographs.
Walking into The Royal Albert Hall, slogans suggested a shift in the industry’s moral compass. Bons mots such as “Green is the new Black” and “You look great, wear it again” stood tall as guests strolled into the venue, ensuring no one could avoid staring the issues of the day in the face. Once seated, guests were treated to a meat-free amuse bouche of carrot and pesto, which, despite sounding overly healthful, raised many a smile by those who appreciated the lighter offering.
As a performance by UK rapper Little Simz drew to a close, students from Central Saint Martins – rife with political activism in keeping with the university’s heritage – took to the stage to unveil their annual White Show. It was led by 19-year-old Johnny MacLean, one of the 185 undergraduate fashion students walking in the show, carrying a double-sided banner bearing the words “Creative directors start using your collective power” on one side and “Climate emergency” on the other. The combination of subtle messaging and outright protest rings loud, and for an occasion that centres on fashion’s achievements, it’s clear that an awards show can now reach beyond the glitz and glamour and be its own platform for compelling causes.
But as awards season draws to a close, can we expect to see change once stars slip out of their gowns and back into the comforts of their own wardrobes? Will the same outfit be worn down the red carpet once more? Or for jewels to all be sustainability and ethnically sourced going forward?
It remains the prerogative of each brand to decide whether they pursue celebrity dressing with a cause on the red carpet, while guests, individual designers and fashion houses can strive to be catalysts for change. Red-carpet dressing is finally ridding itself of superficiality, replacing it with cause-driven optic messaging. Brand collaborations are doing what fashion can uniquely do – grounding us in what’s simultaneously beautiful and important amid overwhelming political noise. For Patrick McDowell, it’s simple that his views on sustainability align with Swarovski’s – “We just help each other. It’s really nice.”
CREATIVE DIRECTORS START USING YOUR COLLECTIVE POWER — BANNER SLOGAN AT DESIGN STUDENTS’ WHITE SHOW