What we can Learn from Billie Eilish’s Sustainability Journey
The multi-platinum, Grammy award-winning artist, Billie Eilish, who bared her skin for the first time on the cover of Vogue, has always been so open from day one in her music career about her love for sustainable fashion.
The pop star took this to a bigger platform, when she walked the Met Gala carpet for the first time last year, in Oscar de la Renta. Behind closed doors, Billie refused to wear the designer until they agreed to stop using real animal fur in their products, making a statement to the world that she truly cares about what she wears. When asked about the dress, the singer went on to say “So, I got Oscar de la Renta to stop using fur completely, and that was a really really big thing for me, and I hope that more brands follow along with being environmentally conscious and try to help the world instead of making it worse.”
Billie continued with this message this year, when she attended wearing a repurposed Gucci dress. The gown had been reworked from existing Gucci pieces and fabrics along with custom shoes that she claimed were “necessary” to be vegan. However, this is not the first time the singer has stepped out in vegan shoes. Back in 2021, Eilish designed her very own range of vegan shoes in collaboration with Nike, that were completely vegan and made up of 20% recycled products, waving the flag for other sports and shoes brands to use more sustainable materials. It’s clear that Billie is a matre of sustainable fashion both on and off of the red carpet.
The singer revealed that she loved buying her clothes from thrift stores because there is no “genre of clothing” and “limit” on what you can buy, regardless of gender. It's obvious that self expression is really important to her and plays an enormous role in why second-hand shopping is becoming more popular. Like Billie Eilish, lots of people are wanting to go against the status quo and be more creative with their style, away from fast fashion trends. It appears that people are leaning towards more sustainable options, whether that's thrifting, pre-loved clothing apps such as Depop, Vinted and vintage or charity stores and Billie has been a huge inspiration for this.
The singer claimed in her vogue interview at this year's Met Gala that growing up she “only thrifted”. She went on to talk about how it's one of her favourite things to do and how as a kid she would even go to the fabric district and buy fabrics to make and design her own clothes. Billie summarised that interview by saying “Fashion man, it's my life” and there’s so much that can be taken from that. As Billie Eilish has proved to the world, whether its fans or the most established high fashion designers, that you don’t have to compromise your creativity or love for clothes and when it comes to sustainability.
