Colin Firth's Wife Vows to Stay Green on Red Carpets

Livia Firth (nee Giuggioli) may not be well known on this side of the pond, but over in fair Brittania, she's quite a trend-setter. Not only is the lovely Mrs. Firth married to one of my favorite English movie stars (that's Colin Firth to those of you not as infatuated with Price & Prejudice remakes as I am), she's also famous in England for her personal style. Firth runs the green boutique Eco Age in the Chiswick neighborhood of London, in which her husband is also a silent partner. The Firths also recently launched an online platform for humanitarian films at Brightwide.com.

Why is living green important to Livia? "Over the years, Colin and I have become so much more aware of the fact that as individuals we have a responsibility to respect our environment, if not for ourselves then certainly for our children. Eco is all about making simple and positive choices to improve our environment, and our homes are the place where this starts." In addition to the store, Mrs. Firth also blogs about her eco-friendly fashion endeavors for Vogue UK, where she is currently involved in quite a unique challenge.

This year, Colin Firth will undoubtedly be nominated for Best Actor at almost every major award show for his performance in Tom Ford's A Single Man, which means his wife will be accompanying him to many award ceremonies. Journalist Lucy Siegle challenged Mrs. Firth to wear only ethical and sustainable dresses on the red carpet — a challenge Livia gladly accepted.

On her first main challenge out of the starting gate, Livia more than rose to the occasion. At this past Sunday's Golden Globe Awards, Mrs. Firth sported an "upcycled" wedding dress, which means she was able to re-wear a wedding dress for a different purpose and occasion by slightly altering it. The dress was a massive success, especially on eco-warrior blogs. Livia wrote about her first challenge outfit on her Vogue blog, saying, "The re-purposed Christiana Couture wedding dress was a HUGE success in the sense that I don't think I’ve ever had so many compliments for a dress in one night."

For Livia, however, the challenge does not end here: "But people here do not seem to understand the concept of ethical fashion — they loved the dress but when I revealed the origin they sort of switch off as if it's not cool anymore because it was once a wedding dress. It's made me realize that although repurposing and vintage are great, we need to go one step further and make a really strong ethical fashion statement. Which means I now have to find the perfect dress for the Screen Actors Guild Awards in exactly a week."

Photo courtesy of nicogenin, via Flickr