Stunning Sustainability at the Oscars (with video)

The go-to question on the red carpet leading into the Academy Awards each year is "Who are you wearing?" But this year, one actress might also entertain the question, "Is what you're wearing sustainable?" At last night's Academy Awards ceremony, Missi Pyle, who co-starred in "The Artist" wore a dress by Miami-based designer Valentina Delfino, who won Red Carpet Green Dress, a design contest launched in 2009 to raise awareness about sustainable fashion. Entries must be created entirely from sustainable fabrics or other materials.

According to Red Carpet Green Dress, the dress worn by Ms. Pyle contains silk peace chiffon, lined with recycled polyester and a sustainable zipper located on the left side seam. The silk chiffon was dyed with a natural mineral dye, which is both environmentally friendly and OSHA approved. They define peace silk as follows:

Peace Silk (or Cruelty–Free Silk) is the non-violent silk created through the process that permits the full life cycle of the silkworm pupae. The silkworm is able to emerge naturally and only then the cocoons are unwound.  On the contrary, the traditional sericulture approach kills the worm inside. This is done through the process of heat or steam, in order to keep the pupa from breaking through the cocoon – causing numerous threads rather than having a single fiber.

Given the way in which "The Artist" dominated most of the major Oscar categories (among other awards, taking home Best Actor, Best Director and Best Picture), there was ample time to spot Ms. Pyle in reaction shots.