Who Were The Eco Champions At The Oscars 2024?

‘Sustainability’ and ‘celebrity’ are rarely used in the same breath, but some steps are being taken to make glitzy events like the Oscars more eco-friendly. This year, Samata Pattinson (previously CEO of Red Carpet, Green Dress) and founder of cultural sustainability organisation BLACK PEARL, partnered with the 96th Annual Academy Awards to produce an evergreen Sustainable Style Guide. So, who took the advice to heart? Here are the eco champions of the Oscars red carpet 2024.

Eco Champions At The Oscars 2024

Carey Mulligan wears a vintage Balenciaga gown. © Getty

‘This year’s Oscars has seen some celebrities championing sustainable fashion on the red carpet,’ says Samata Pattinson, founder of Black Pearl. This includes:

• Suleika Jaouad wearing customised Atelier Jolie, made from beautiful vintage and upcycled materials
• Maggie Baird for emirati brand OTT representing slow fashion, made to order and cultural diversity
• Carey Mulligan who opted for a beautiful vintage Balenciaga gown
• Lily Gladstone and Quannah Chasinghorse who spotlighted indigenous designers
• Laverne Cox who opted for a vintage Mugler FW86 gown
• Eugene Lee Yang representing Latino designers in custom Walter Mendez

‘It’s really inspiring to see profiles using a key cultural moment such as the Oscars red carpet, to advocate the values of sustainable fashion, highlighting how sustainability can really enhance personal style and have a deeper meaning,’ says Samata. ‘We always need more and I want to see more – but done in a way that shows it’s a very nuanced and open conversation.

‘The time for us to collectively shift to a more positive impact and a more personal way to enjoy fashion is now,’ Samata adds. ‘We hope that this will help more citizens, creatives and communities to become curious about all of the different ways they can develop, discover or simply highlight what they are already doing. This is about a more personal and values driven sense of style, that will ultimately be better for all people and our beautiful planet.’

Lily Gladstone wears a gown featuring work by an indigenous designer: porcupine quill-work edging by Joe Big Mountain of Ironhorse Quillwork. © Getty

What Is The Academy Sustainable Style Guide?

The Academy Sustainable Style Guide is a fashion guide offering advice to Academy members on how they can adopt more eco-friendly fashion choices. Created in partnership with Black Pearl, it covers the following key topics:

• Go vintage by buying from a clothing library or designers’ archives
• Borrow your outfit
• Choose sustainable textiles and finishing touches
• Prioritise representation, and support brands and businesses owned by members of underrepresented communities
• Love your garment after the event, whether that’s having it preserved for a future occasion, transformed for a new occasion with dyeing or the help of a tailor, or donating it to a theatre department or non-profit organisation
• Trace your garment with QR codes or NFC tags
• Champion brands and designers that prioritise human dignity with living wages, voluntary employment, and safe working conditions.

‘After a decade of championing sustainable fashion on the red carpet, I was incredibly honored to partner with 96th Annual Academy Awards this year to produce an evergreen Sustainable Style Guide, which offers advice to Academy members on how they can adopt and celebrate some of the amazing sustainable fashion options that are available out there today,’ says Samata Pattinson.

If you fancy making your wardrobe greener but you don’t have a star-studded award ceremony on the horizon, Black Pearl has created a resource that might suit the lay people better: The Sustainable Fashion Guide for Everyone, an expansive and free resource developed to refresh the conversation around sustainable fashion. Give it a read here.