The Academy Awards of Sustainable Fashion 

With the help of some Hollywood friends and Italy’s fashion chamber, Livia Firth pulled off the biggest A-list event of the year here in Milan:  The Green Carpet Fashion Awards. “It’s the Academy Awards of Fashion,” Firth said dressed in a whimsical Roberto Capucci gown.

Firth, the founder of Eco Age, is perhaps one of the biggest crusaders for ethical and sustainable fashion in the world.  Camera Nazionale della Moda’s president Carlo Capasa has also been on a mission to create a 360 degree sustainable industry.

Under La Scala’s chandeliered, baroque ceiling, Firth’s husband Colin sat beside Anna Wintour and Andrew Garfield, while Gucci’s designer Alessandro Michele was seated next to Dakota Johnson, the muse of his latest ad campaign.

A photo of Giorgio Armani, Miuccia Prada, Pierpaolo Piccioli and Alessandro Michele received the CNMI Recognition of Sustainability Award posted on the Camera Moda Instagram feed.

Because of the waste caused by mountains of unwanted fast fashion garments and the dyes and chemicals used that pollute natural water supplies of over the world, fashion is one of the major polluters on earth.

“Our national resources are finite,” Gisele Bundchen said after receiving the Vogue Eco Laureate award for her work as a United Nations Goodwill ambassador and her Amazon clean water project Progeto Agua Limpa.  “This is the beginning of a new tomorrow.  Sustainable fashion can lead the way.”

At the ceremony also sponsored in part by Parma’s shopping mall Fidenza Village, artisans were also honored.  The seamstresses of Maison Valentino who craft the house’s  red carpet gowns by hand were also awarded.

Other winners included the owners of New Life Yarns, as the Como-based Taroni silk mill and a Sardinian woman named Chiara Vigo, the only artisan in the world that makes silk out of clam fibers.

A photo of Dakota Johnson wearing a Gucci gown to the Green Carpet Awards in Milan posted onto the Camera Moda Instagram feed.

Emerging designer Tiziano Guardini received the Francesca Sozzani GCC award for best emerging designer. Other nominees included Co|Te, Matea Benedetti of Matea and Leo Macina of Leo Studio – all up-and-comers who have embraced sustainability and are committed to working under an ethical ethos for years to come.

“Italian textile makers are really working hard to put forth sustainable offerings.  As designers we are not only trying to eliminate waste but also design our fashions in a way that eliminate the use of metals and plastics.  It’s the future.  It’s our future and our message we want younger designers to hear,” said CO|TE’s Tomaso Anfossi and Francesco Ferrari.

The event closed with Prada, Michele, Giorgio Armani and Pierpaolo Piccioli standing side by side in silence on stage in acceptance of the CNMI Sustainability Award — a clear sign of where our industry is headed.

Sofia Celeste

Sofia Celeste is a fashion journalist, consultant and the Editor-in-Chief of e-Pitti's tech and fashion magazine Fairplay.

When she is not hunting down the latest in tech and fashion, Sofia Celeste is scouting artisan talent for her online magazine www.bacoluxury.com. Born in the US and raised on the Pacific island of Guam, she went on to write for Dow Jones Newswires and the Wall Street Journal. Her work is regularly published in top fashion publications NOWFASHION and WWD.