Livia Firth in her upcycled Oscars gown

Livia Firth, better known as the wife of Colin and founder of ethical store Eco Age, wore eleven vintage dresses to this year’s Oscars. Not a good look, right? Well no actually. She might have been wearing eleven different dresses but they’d been reworked into a single, fabulous piece. The outfit was part of her ‘Green Carpet Challenge’, a challenge that she set herself to wear ethical garments for every red carpet event throughout the award season, and this time, she’d ditched the organic fabric for something a little older – upcyling.

Livia’s dress was created by couture designer Gary Harvey, a man well versed in the principles of upcycling. In 2007, Harvey showed a gown fashioned from thirty copies of the Financial Times, a puffball dress made from 26 nylon baseball jackets and a denim dress created by reworking 41 pairs of Levi’s 501’s. His collection was a self-described ‘comment about thinking about the real cost of the garment that you buy, about that cost being natural resources, exploitation of labour, the biodegradable nature of garments.’ The collection did indeed open people’s eyes to upcycling. Whereas, before people might have cut up their jeans to make a pair of shorts and called it customising, suddenly upcycling became the cool way to re-make and re-use.

Upcycling is the process of converting waste fabric into something of higher quality or greater beauty. The term is not restricted to fashion but has become a real buzz word in the industry. Ask a vintage lover what the appeal of wearing a 70s jacket is and they’re likely to say that the appeal comes from its uniqueness, character and timelessness. But the fit of second-hand pieces is often questionable and many have defects. Upcycling ensures that nothing goes to waste; any pieces can be fiddled with to create something altogether unique and fanciful.

Wikipedia state that the first recorded use of the term ‘upcycling’ was in 1994, but many attribute the popularity of the term to William McDonough and Michael Braungart in their 2002 book ‘Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the way we make things’ (an awesome book, by the way). In fashion, the term is now used by consumers and designers alike. So where can you go to get your upcycled fashion fix? Here are some of the best:

TRAIDremade

TRAIDremade is an environmentally sustainable fashion label launched in 2002 by UK based textile recycling charity TRAID. They design and make clothes for men and women using textiles that are past their best and would otherwise be thrown away. This means that each garment is unique and made with love and care. TRAIDremade produces amazing dresses and tunics, each of which is unique. Not only is buying TRAIDremade green; as an added bonus, the profits go to TRAID’s international development projects.

Minna

Minna Hepburn is a Finnish designer living in Dorset, whose penchant for making garments from vintage finds has snowballed into a fashion label which has been featured in Vogue, Elle and Cosmopolitan. Each piece is hand-embellished and made from a mixture of organic, recycled and locally produced textiles. Lace dresses start at a reasonable £200 and she also does a lovely range of jewellery and blouses. With a neutral palette and soft silhouettes, Minna’s pieces are fabulously feminine and full of vintage charm.

Christopher Raeburn: Remade in England

Christopher Raeburn

A Royal College of Art graduate, Raeburn uses re-appropriated military fabrics for both his men’s and women’s collections. Specialising in outerwear, the hard wearing military fabrics are given a new life as functional and super stylish parkas, trenches and bomber jackets. Each item is proudly labelled ‘Remade in England’. In 2009 he collaborated with Worn Again on capsule collections made from Virgin and Eurostar seat fabrics.

Worn Again

Worn Again was set up in 2005 by Cyndi Rhodes, starting off as a collaboration with ethical shoe brand, Terra Plana, on a footwear range made from ex-military blankets and granddad jackets. They make products from corporate waste materials, promoting green jobs, sustainable growth and UK production where possible. They also teamed up with Virgin Atlantic to produce a range of bags and accessories made from old airline seat covers. The latest addition to the range – the Worn Again Storm Sack – takes its inspiration and materials from Royal Mail.

From Somewhere

From Somewhere have been upcycling for longer than the term ‘upcycling’ has existed. The brainchild of designers Orsola de Castro and Filippo Ricco, From Somewhere has been creating pieces from pre-consumer waste [swatches or end of rolls that would otherwise be thrown away] since 1997. In 2010 they brought upcycling to the supermarket by teaming up with Florence & Fred at Tesco. Six body-con pieces were designed using end of line Tesco stock and were manufactured in a ‘green’ factory in Sri Lanka. Prices started at a very reasonable £16, proving that sustainable fashion doesn’t have to mean expensive.

Orsola de Castro and Filippo Ricco's From Somewhere - upcycled pieces from the Spring/Summer 2011 collection