You might know Livia Firth because she's married to Mr.Darcy (every woman’s idea of the most charming, handsome Englishman on the planet, Colin Firth) but there's a lot more to this vivacious Italian...
Livia Firth is not your typical eco-warrior, sometimes described as “the Queen of the Green Carpet,” she is the driving force behind the Green Carpet Challenge (GCC) launched in 2009.
The GCC is a dynamic project working with A-list designers and globally recognised celebrities, to catapult sustainable style into the spotlight at the world’s most high profile events.
From the Golden Globes to the Cannes Film Festival, the GCC has collaborated with all of the iconic design houses in the world, winning widespread critical acclaim and international media attention.
Meryl Streep is but one of the A-listers (and Tom Ford one of the designers) who have supported eco-friendly high fashion on red carpet during awards season—thereby helping turn “Who are you wearing?” into “ What are you wearing?” and showing that sustainable style does not mean sackcloth.
Firth believes the existing fashion system is no longer acceptable, as many others are starting to see after tragedies such as the 2013 catastrophe in Bangladesh when the eight-story Rana Plaza garment factory collapsed and killed more than 1,100 people—predominantly women.
She is determined to change things. “My ambition is for the entire fashion industry to become completely green,” she says.
The GCC encourages designers to embrace sustainable style, some recent success stories being British designers Christopher Bailey, Victoria Beckham, Christopher Kane, Erdem and Roland Mouret - all who have designed pieces in accordance with the GCC ethical benchmarking.
Because of her work with the GCC, Livia Firth was awarded in November 2012 a UN Leader of Change Award , and in May 2014 the Rainforest Alliance awarded Livia and Eco-Age with a Sustainable Standard Setter Award.
The Firths follow eco principles in their Chiswick home too. Firth always cooks from scratch and hates waste. “Old salad will become minestrone and I’m good at taking all the leftovers in the fridge and inventing something new.”
She is well aware it can be a slow process getting the system to change, but luckily she is patient. "Rome wasn’t built in a day," she says. (She was born in Rome.)
Livia Firth is absolutely leading the way on being sustainable with style.
Plus, turning up to the Paris premiere of The King’s Speech, starring her husband as the King of England, Livia appeared wearing a discarded moth-eaten suit of his recycled as a chic patchwork dress. What a way to raise the profile of sustainable fashion!
Find out more about Livia Firth here.