Suzy Amis Cameron brought her Red Carpet Green Dress pre-Oscars celebration back to Los Angeles Friday night at the aptly named SmogShoppe venue.
RCGD chief executive officer Samata Pattinson, actress Zoe Saldana, stylist-turned-producer Jeanne Yang, designer/artist Jeff Garner, director Andrew Morgan and more attended the dinner to celebrate the global design contest winners and this year’s two Hollywood ambassadors, Tati Gabrielle and Paloma Garcia-Lee, who will be wearing sustainable looks to the Oscars as part of the organization’s red carpet initiative.
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“We have so many amazing things happening, but the most exciting thing is we are all here and we’re together,” said Cameron to the dinner crowd before the vegetarian feast was served. “I’ve been in New Zealand since August of 2020….I for the first time got on an airplane nine days ago just to be able to come here.…To many more years, here we go!”
“We’re here to celebrate sustainability, which means so many different things to different people depending on who you are, where you grew up, what you can experience, afford and understand,” added Pattinson. “To us, it means including perspectives and trying to design for a better future.”
The second of the pre-Oscar week’s sustainable fashion dinners, following Livia Firth’s Green Carpet Awards on Thursday night, the RCGD event was hosted in partnership with Tencel and CLO Virtual Fashion, featuring contest winning looks from designers Yuriko Fukuda, Sarah Sharma, Benjamin Koh and Jasmine Kelly Rutherford.
“Thank you from myself and all the designers to you guys for taking a chance on us,” said 2020 winner Rutherford, dressed in a snake print dress of her own design, with a lavender snake print manicure to match. She had traveled from New York for the chance to be honored, since there was no event the last two years because of COVID-19.
Getty Images for RCGD Global
Meanwhile, this year’s Hollywood ambassadors were looking forward to their red carpet turns on Sunday.
Created 10 years ago, the Red Carpet Green Dress initiative has recruited Louis Vuitton, Vivienne Westwood, Giorgio Armani, Elie Saab, Christian Siriano, Bulgari, Swarovski, Dunhill and Reformation to create sustainable red carpet wear. Sophie Turner, Laura Harrier, Emma Roberts, Marlee Matlin, Danielle MacDonald, LaKeith Stanfield, Camila Alves and Naomie Harris have all represented the initiative at the ceremony.
“I just got my ticket today,” said Oscars first-timer Garcia-Lee, who made her debut as Graziella in Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story,” which is up for Best Picture and six other awards on Sunday.
On being tapped by RCGD, she said, “I couldn’t imagine a better way to marry things I love. I started becoming more conscious about sustainability a year ago so this would have been lost on me last year. The fact that this is aligning with my first film being nominated for so many awards…And my dearest friend in the world is nominated, and I’m able to be in the room with her and honor her is incredible,” she added of co-star Arianna DeBose, who is up for best supporting actress.
Dressed in a navy blue Adam Lippes suit and Roseark earrings, Garcia-Lee also had some tips for trying to live more sustainably. “I’m shopping entirely off of Poshmark and sites like that. We think of secondhand with a negative connotation, but I have gotten some of the nicest designer pieces and I am giving them second life.”
Her other tip? “Tailoring. How many times do we throw something away because it’s too small or too big? Find a good tailor. Go to Joann’s Fabric or somewhere else, find something that adds a fun contrast and extends the life of a piece for very little money.”
After starting her career as a singer/dancer on Broadway, Garcia-Lee is moving to L.A. to focus entirely on acting. “I’m taking agent meetings and settling in…” she said, politely declining a waiter’s offer of a mushroom foie gras crostini appetizer. “Soon, soon,” she laughed, about keeping the willpower through the weekend.
Spoken like a pro.
Getty Images for RCGD Global
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