With Ricky Kej repeating his Grammy-winning outfit at Cannes Film Festival 2022, the spotlight is on sustainable fashion

Sheetal

Repeating your clothes to make a fashion statement is the best foot forward towards sustainable fashion. Although opted by a few in the glamour industry, this trend seems to be picking up its momentum, if pictures of celebs reusing their dresses at various galas are anything to by.

We take a look at celebs who have often repeated their outfits and have set a precedence for others to follow.

Re-wear for earth

As two-time Grammy winner Ricky Kej donned the blue cross-buttoned achkan suit at Cannes Film Festival, the world was reminded of his Grammy-winning moment this year where he wore the same outfit.

The artiste and environmentalist took to Instagram to share the pictures of two grand moments side-by-side with a caption, “Fashion can be trendy twice. Rewear your outfits for different occasions and do your part in reducing damage dealt to the Earth. This year, I was on two of the biggest stages in the world - the Grammy Awards & Cannes Film Festival and chose to wear the same outfit. Fast fashion isn’t always fashionable. Especially when we consider its impact on our planet. The use of toxic textile dyes, cheap materials and massive use of water & translates to environmental pollution. For decades, repeating an outfit for galas and events would be considered a fashion blunder - encouraging people to switch up outfits for every event, making clothes ‘Single Use’. It’s time to change that narrative. It’s time we consider our planet in this equation. Fashion can be trendy twice.”

Ricky even asked others to repeat outfits and share it with the hashtag #ReWear4Earth to do their part for the planet as he says, “The Earth wouldn’t remember what you wore. It will remember how you treat it.”

He is representing India as a member of the official delegation led by the Information and Broadcasting, and Sports and Youth Affairs Minister, Anurag Thakur. The Indian composer’s award accepting speech at Grammy’s also had the same message which he reiterated on Earth Day, “Happy Earth Day! Let us pledge to #coexist. Not only among us human beings, but with all life and nature. Our survival as human beings depends on coexisting. Here is what I said earlier this month after winning the Grammy Award.”

The royal way

The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, who is married to Prince Williams, can be credited for making the trend of outfit repetition mainstream. From the royal wedding to day-to-day events, there are always prying eyes watching what they wear and how they present themselves out in public. There are enough proofs of her repeating and restyling her old outfits on internet. From her fuchsia mulberry coat, which she wore through all her pregnancies to her teal peplum LK Bennet suit worn in 2012 and 2015 to recycling her Alexander McQueen gown from BAFTA 2011for the green carpet of the sustainability-minded first ever Earthshot Prize Awards held in 2021, the list is endless.

Her sister-in-law and Hollywood actress Meghan Markle too is known for her slow-fashion lifestyle. Her striped Martin Grant maxi dress is quite famous which she first wore while visiting a local Australian surfing community group at Bondi Beach Sydney and later during her royal tour to South Africa.

Statement-worthy

Wardrobe-recycling, especially at award ceremonies, makes for a headline and also serves the cause of sustainable fashion. Australian actress Cate Blanchett in 2020 Venice Film Festival had recycled not one but many of her previous iconic dresses. Starting out with shimmering navy Esteban Cortazar gown (previously worn on Carol’s premiere in London) for the opening day of the festival, she continued the trend by repeating her BAFTA 2016 floral top. Previously a part of her Alexander McQueen dress (feathered black skirt) was teamed with black pants for the festival. Taking this fashion choice a little further, in 2020, Joker actor Joaquin Phoenix wore the same black tux to all the award functions in that year. And as he continued to collect trophies, more than the winning speech, his outfit was doing it for him. Celebs like Tiffany Haddish, Deepika Padukone, Hailey Baldwin, Alia Bhatt and Rita Moreno have also been following the trend of repeating their outfits.

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