THE DAZZLING HUNT FOR A CHRISTMAS DRESS

With festivities around the corner, my hunt for a dazzling Christmas dress kicks off. Come December, who can resist a rich textured velvety red or the joy of the sparkle of glitter?

With last year's revolution of me renting a Christmas Party Dress, this year I am looking for something eternal to introduce to my wardrobe, something far away from trend, rather something classic but that still brings joy and that Christmas morning feeling each time I take it out and by that become my forever favourite Christmas dress.

My first go to material for that winter cosy fabulousness was until this moment velvet, but I soon realised that this rich material is traditionally made of silk, which is actually not very sustainable. Sourcing and processing silk protein fibres are resource-intensive. Did you know its not vegan? That when you harvest the silk the silk worm inside dies? At the usage stage, washing and caring for velvet fabrics have high environmental impacts. There are some organic vegan silk producers I have researched about but the haut-gamme velvet is mostly made from normal (non vegan) silk. The high-street velvet on the other hand is mostly made of polyester, a synthetic fibre made from petroleum-based chemicals.

Tim Walker shoot from the *Vogue* archives.

Moving onto sparkles I soon discovered that my favourite sparkle (sequin) dress is actually made of small plates that are in fact plastic. Turns out that especially in the festive season, British women purchase 33 million sequinned garments every year, with 1.7 million ending up in landfill after only 5 years and 35% of microplastics being released into the world’s oceans. Terrorised by these facts, suddenly looking at sparkles didn't bring that festive vibe anymore, seeing poor fishes drowning in festive gear.. Luckily there is hope, I remembered a shoot not so long ago in Vogue featuring Cara Delavigne (post rehab) by the legendary Annie Leibovitz featuring Stella McCartney’s (the one and only visionary within the sustainable fashion sector) latest sparkly garment in a new material named BioSequins that are in fact a plastic-free, biodegradable and non-toxic sequin alternative, innovated from plant-derived cellulose, using no metals, minerals or synthetic pigments or colourants. Sadly, the collection is not commercially available yet but can't wait for the future to hold my beloved sparkly but conscious outfits.

*Cara Delavigne* shot by *Annie Leibovitz* wearing the future of sequins.

Scrolling down Net-A-Porter's site, I started to wonder what can replace my prejudiced Christmas Dress material? Linen would be superb, organic cotton as well, but our festivities were to be held in the mountains, with temperatures way below the beach vibes so these materials would be too cold. Happily I soon discovered a red belted gathered crepe maxi dress in a very chic and timeless silhouette by the relatively new brand Toteme. This crepe was made from 100% viscose, which is sustainable compared to my previous fabric choices, because it is made from wood pulp, which is treated and spun into yarns to make fabric, which makes it fully biodegradable. Yay, Happy Christmas everyone!