L‘wedding dress: a beautiful dress, often very expensive. Which risks ending up in the most hidden corner of the wardrobe and no longer being worn. A waste? In 2022, sustainability is the fil rouge of weddings and this aspect is also reflected in wedding fashion. If bride-to-be are opting more and more for ethical and sustainable models, it is theupcycling the new trend. How to turn your dream dress into a model that can be worn on different occasions, worthy of an updated bride?
Upcycling: what it is
Let’s clarify immediately: upcycling is a term that indicates the reuse of objects to create a higher quality product, real or perceived. There are two ways to upcycling: pre-consumer scraps of fabric used to make a garment are used; post-consumeralready used clothes are modified, which are modified.
Recycle the wedding dress, reusing it
Two sustainable paths that are beginning to be increasingly taken into consideration not only by fashion houses, but also by specialized brands in the bridal sector and by the most famous ateliers. The latest in chronological order, the colossus Pronovias which recently launched the upcycling initiative post-consumer Second Life. Brides who choose one of the approximately 70 dresses in the collection at the Pronovias and Nicole Milano flagship stores in Italy will be able to bring the dress back to the atelier after the wedding and ask for the sartorial transformation for free: the wedding dress will take on a second life and can be worn on other occasions after the big “yes”. And the number of dresses is destined to grow in each new Second Life collection that the two brands will launch. The post-wedding transformations are redesigned and signed by Alessandra Rinaudo, creative director of Pronovias, and Nicole Cavallo of Nicole Milano.
A wedding dress by Pronovias 2022 (Photo: PR).
And not only that: through the #MyDressxHerFuture initiative Pronovias Group supports Brides do Good in Europe and Brides for a Cause in the United States. With #MyDressxHerFuture, the bride can donate her wedding dress which will be resold by the Associations to support projects to support women in need. Another way post-consumer to give added value to your dress.
The same dress as above by Pronovias, in an upcycled version (Photo: PR).
Re-Love, to love your wedding dress again
Is called Re-Love instead the project launched in December 2021 by Atelier Emé. An exclusive collection of archival wedding dresses signed by the Italian brand and reworked in collaboration with Mending for Good, the consulting company created to offer creative and ethical upcycling solutions to luxury brands. The collaboration gave birth to a real line of limited edition wedding dresses, created thanks to the artisan workshops of San Patrignano for painting on fabric and Manusa for handmade embroidery. 16 proposals, of which 10 reworked and 6 created by the style office, available exclusively in the Milan atelier.
Among the minor brands that focus on upcycling, WED. Based in London, the niche brand founded in early 2019 by designers Amy Trinh and Evan Phillips stands out for an innovative approach to deadstock fabrics. Starting with heirloom or vintage wedding dresses supplied by customers, the Bridal brand creates new styles directly tailored. Just contact the brand to transform an obsolete or disused dress into a unique garment to use for a special occasion. Looking for guidelines on how to recycle your wedding dress? WED also provides some ready-made ideas to be inspired byto be requested directly from the atelier and created from pre-owned wedding dresses and recycled fabrics. Pre And post upcyclingin short, according to the needs: from the Victorian dress transformed into a mini dress to that of tulle that becomes a very modern cut-out dress.
An upcycled wedding dress from WED.
Pre-consumer upcycling: a new concept of wedding dress
Alongside the new upcycling initiatives post-consumerthose dedicated to the bride are growing more and more pre-consumer. The small ateliers, unlike the big brands, obviously focus on more sustainable projects – especially from an economic point of view – which concern the creation of wedding dresses with waste and recycled fabrics. An example? The all-Italian case of the collection Valdamore by Miriam Gentile, designer of Atelier Maratanabased in Modena.
Unique garments with a boho spirit entirely produced in Italy with upcycling fabrics from waste materials of large companies. Miriam’s dream? Giving new life to the dress, so that she can be the protagonist on other occasions in a woman’s life. For modern princesses.
How to recycle the wedding dress. At 100%
And if likewise also real recycling it is especially trendy among the very young, the international platform based in California could not be missing among the players who bet directly on it Azazie, famous for offering inclusive wedding dresses at an affordable price. In collaboration with the Green Education Foundation, the brand, starting from 2022, donates its unused garments to a closed-loop recycling program that recovers 100% of clothing fibers.
Donations of unused clothing will reduce the carbon footprint and energy needed to produce the same item, in the perspective of an increasingly circular bridal fashion. A project different from actual upcycling, but still sustainable from a perspective post consumer.
iO Donna © REPRODUCTION RESERVED