Red Carpet Green Dress contest adds menswear, kicks off Oct. 11
The fifth annual Red Carpet Green Dress competition, which has designers competing to create eco-friendly fashion that will be showcased in front of millions of eyeballs on the Academy Awards red carpet, gets underway Friday.
Founded by Suzy Amis Cameron (wife of director James Cameron), the contest not only provides a high-profile platform for environmentally friendly fashion, but it also serves as a fundraiser for MUSE School CA, a nonprofit, educational organization in Malibu Canyon that was founded by Amis Cameron and her sister, Rebecca Amis.
Last year’s campaign, which raised $120,000 for MUSE, saw “Skyfall” actress Naomie Harris wear a gown made from certified organic silk crepe de chine dyed with goldenrod and chamomile and hand-embroidered with vintage glass beads and chocolate candy wrappers that was designed by Savannah College of Art and Design fashion design student Michael Badger.
For the first time, this year’s competition will include a menswear component, so designers entering the contest have the option of submitting a sketch of a gown or a tuxedo along with an explanation of how their design would be made sustainably.
That also means that instead of a single winner, as there has been in past years, there will be two -- one for gown design and one for tux design. The selected designers will be paired with an established designer (last year it was Vivienne Westwood) who will mentor them as they turn those sketches into wearable (and sustainable) red carpet-worthy clothes.
This year’s mentoring designer hasn’t been revealed yet, but the folks at Red Carpet Green Dress say the announcement will be forthcoming “very soon.”
The deadline for entries is Nov. 11, and complete instructions on how to enter are online. The two winning designs will be worn on the red carpet at the 2014 Academy Awards, scheduled for March 2.
ALSO:
Oscars 2013: Naomie Harris in Red Carpet Green Dress gown
Oscars 2012: Missi Pyle wears the Red Carpet Green Dress winner
2012 Red Carpet Green Dress deadline extended for Superstorm Sandy
