Cate Blanchett will be re-wearing old looks from her wardrobe during the Venice Film Festival.
The Australian actress is serving as the jury president of the 2020 festival, the first major film festival to have a physical edition amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Blanchett regularly tops best-dressed lists with her flawless outfits, and she’ll be required to make many appearances on the red carpet between 2 and 12 September as part of her role.
Ahead of the event, Blanchett, who lives in the U.K., decided to look through her existing archive for outfits to wear during the festival rather than acquire new ones, and she is urging other celebrity attendees to do the same. In an interview with WWD, she explained that the festival was the perfect time to reinvent the nature of the red carpet event as it is the first one in almost six months.
“It’s a chance to do something positive. It’s not a mandate [to other guests], it’s a provocation,” she stated. “It feels like it’s been such a time of introspection and reflection over the last six months broadly, and I think there is incredible opportunity to reassess processes we’ve taken for granted that were dysfunctional and unsustainable.
“This is a tentative first step out of the gate for the film industry, in which I work, but there’s a lot of connected industries that are associated with a festival like Venice – travel, tourism, the red carpet and what that means as a showcase for talent and ideas. And it’s a wonderful time to reinvent that.”
The 51-year-old, who has re-worn looks in the past, explained that she is limited to the pieces she has in England as she is unable to get the clothes kept in storage in Australia due to Covid-19 restrictions.
“And when you are talking about sustainability do you really want to fly a dress halfway around the world?” she continued. “I am working with what I’ve got in the attic. It’s an opportunity to clear the cobwebs out and see what I’ve got.”
Blanchett will be donating the looks she re-wears to an auction, with 100 per cent of the proceeds going to causes fighting for gender and racial equality – U.N. Women and Facing History and Ourselves.
Reuters
