Vintage in the spotlight

Livia Firth, wife of multi-award winning actor Colin Firth, owns 'Eco Age' - a shop dedicated to all things 'eco'. The website http://www.eco-age.com/home states that; "We at Eco Age work with the best of national and international designers to bring you the best from the sustainable world. From toys to bespoke furniture, green cleaning products to energy saving gadgets, this is the place to be." This lady clearly knows a thing or two about green products.

Livia decided that, for one entire awards season when she would be accompanying husband Colin, she would only dress in ecologically sound, sustainable fashion. Vogue followed her 'Green Carpet Challenge' for the award season - which saw Livia dressed in a plethora of sustainable outfits. What's all this got to do with vintage, i hear you say?

Well. One of the dresses Livia wore during the awards season was a dress, made by Gary Harvey, that consisted of 11 recycled vintage dresses. It was a 'green' dress because it was made from pre-existing fabrics and trim - it was recycled.

Livia Firth wearing her recycled vintage dress

 Some have criticised Livia's choice as actually being more wasteful than 'green', due to the fact that 11 dresses were used to make one - thus resulting in a lot of waste. However, whether the dress is 'green' or not - it still put vintage clothing under the spot light, perhaps even appealing to those customers that now see it as a 'greener' alternative to buying something new. Although this would have no real benefit for Garbo (the dresses are neither genuine vintage, nor specifically made from 'green' fabrics) it has still put vintage clothing back under the spotlight and made some people more aware of it.