Helen Mirren was repeating looks long before the current trend took off, from the floral Dolce & Gabbana dress she rewore within the space of months in 2012 to a dress featuring children’s drawings, also by the brand, which she sported three times in 2015. That commitment to promoting a more sustainable approach to fashion has led her to team up with rental app By Rotation, where she is listing two of her favourite red-carpet dresses.
“Fashion rental helps us to consume better,” the actor tells Vogue. “If five people wear one occasion dress, for example, rather than each buying their own, the resource consumption and environmental impacts are lower. I’m so pleased that two of my evening dresses, including a personal favourite from my archive, are listed for rental with By Rotation – making these beautiful pieces accessible to everyone.”
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Helen Mirren wearing a floral Dolce & Gabbana dress at the Empire Awards in March 2013.
The actor rewore the dress again two days later at The Prince’s Trust Awards.
Mirren has chosen to list a red sequined dress from Self-Portrait, which she wore at The Duke premiere in London in February 2022 (and which happens to be very similar to a design worn by the Princess of Wales in 2020), along with a gold vintage dress by Niteline Della Roufogali, which she has worn a number of times over the years. The red-carpet worthy pieces are available to rent from just £8 and £24 a day respectively, with all proceeds going to Women For Women International, a charity for which the Oscar winner has been an ambassador since 2016.
Read more: All The Best Fashion From The 2023 Cannes Film Festival Red Carpet
The actor says that championing eco-conscious fashion is increasingly important to her, with the negative impacts of the industry more clear than ever. “The way we as a society consume fashion has become unsustainable,” she explains. “With the rise in fast fashion and judgement about rewearing outfits, even off the red carpet, clothing has become almost as throwaway as single-use plastics. Waste creation is a danger for us and animals on land, and for the fish in the sea.”
Mirren wearing a D&G dress featuring children’s drawings at the Ischia Global Film & Music Fest in Italy in July 2015.
The actor wearing the same dress at the Gotham Awards in November 2015.
When it comes to her wardrobe off the red carpet, Mirren also opts for investment pieces she can wear over and over again. “I have a wonderful green suede jacket by Ossie Clark, which I absolutely love. My sister borrowed it once and it is the only thing I insisted she gave back to me,” she recalls. As well as repeat-wearing items already in her closet, the actor has a penchant for archival pieces, too. “I recently bought a very stylish black ’60s Dior dress in an auction and have worn it for many formal occasions,” she continues.
While describing her sense of style as “eclectic”, Mirren certainly has a knack for picking items that she’ll continue to love for years to come. With the actor currently in Cannes, expect to see more eco-minded fashion on the red carpet over the next fortnight.