A zero-waste gown from Chennai: Sanah Sharma Mehra on bagging the Red Carpet Green Dress Design Contest 2020

The Red Carpet Green Dress Design Contest for 2020’s first winner from India on her gown that can later turn into table linen, and her academic approach to design

“More research-based, innovation-driven fashion brands can collectively change the narrative for the better,” says Chennai-based Sanah Sharma Mehra, 28, who has just bagged the Red Carpet Green Dress (RCGD) award for 2020. A gown designed with Tencel (a sustainable rayon fabric made from wood pulp), a first for Mehra, has been made keeping “circularity in mind” and is zero-waste. Conceived by actor Suzy Amis Cameron at the press tour for husband James Cameron’s film Avatar over a decade ago, RCGD ‘challenges designers to create an ‘Oscar- worthy’ dress made entirely of sustainable materials’. The contest guidelines reflect this — using certified eco-friendly, organic and/or recycled materials is mandatory, as is adopting initiatives to reduce textile waste. In addition to a cash prize and mentoring, winners will ‘see their designs constructed and worn by the contest ambassadors’. At this year’s Oscars, Marlee Matlin sported a sustainable Vivienne Westwood custom-made gown crafted in black vegan textile made with Tencel luxe filaments. And prior eco-collabs have included the 2019 AMUR x RCGD (sold through select Bloomingdale’s stores), and Reformation x RCGD in 2015 that featured ‘six dresses loosely inspired by previous Oscar gowns’. The Pearl Academy graduate, who developed Planar Flux — a cutting technique that drew inspiration from a maths concept called Mobius Strip and Subtraction Cutting — back in 2015, says the idea to apply for the contest came about thanks to influencer Kestrel Jenkins’ podcast, Conscious Chatter. After she was interviewed by Jenkins last year, Mehra listened to an episode featuring RCGD’s CEO, Samata Pattinson. Curiosity piqued, and the designer (who also runs her own label, sanahsharma.com) then researched the organisation and submitted her application for their Design Contest in July 2020.