Why spoons are Cate Blanchett’s new fashion accessory

On August 8, Australian actress Cate Blanchett received Her Journey Groundbreaker Award at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), an award that recognizes women who have had a great impact on the film industry and who have promoted opportunities for other women in the sector.

When Blanchett, 55, collected the award wearing a Givenchy gown, she raised a laugh from the audience by confessing that she was wearing no underwear. But this is not the only style choice that has attracted attention during her visit to Toronto. During the presentation of the series Disclaimer, she wore an elegant black suit adorned with old spoons. “She did it again!” were among some of the headlines; Blanchett appeared on the red carpet for the Borderlands premiere in Los Angeles shortly before, wearing a top made from 102 spoons.

The LA sighting immediately went viral on social media, so the two-time Oscar winner (The Aviator 2005 and Blue Jasmine 2014) saw fit to repeat the style choice. “Who’s hungry? The spoons are back,” announced the performer’s longtime stylist, Elizabeth Stewart, in an Instagram post showing Blanchett dancing and rattling the spoons in a video shot from her Toronto hotel room.

For those who wonder where these curious outfits came from, they are the work of Ellen Hodakova Larsson, a Swedish designer who turns trash into treasure. Larsson — who won the prestigious LVMH prize for young designers on September 10 along with €400,000 ($441,600) in prize money — has made sustainability her signature, recycling materials from belt buckles to plates to create bespoke garments. In Blanchett’s case, the spoons were found on the outskirts of Stockholm, the city where Larsson lives. Having picked them up and brought them to her atelier, she began to weave them into designs worn by the Hollywood star.

“For Blanchett, there is cachet to be found in ‘discovering’ a new designer brand [Larsson founded the brand in 2021] before other celebrities have worn it on the red carpet. But she will especially have taken interest in one that chimes with her personal messaging around wardrobe sustainability,” writes The Telegraph’s deputy fashion editor Caroline Leaper. For several years now, the actress has been reusing and reworking her old gala dresses, Leaper points out, instead of always looking for new outfits for her public appearances, as most actresses do.

She did something similar with an Alexander McQueen dress she wore in 2016, turning it into a top and pants in 2020. She then experimented with an Armani Privé dress, reworking it earlier this year to wear for the second time at a photo call. She also proved she’s the queen of recycling with the Givenchy dress she wore underwear-less to the award collection at TIFF, in which she was first spotted at the 2018 British Academy Britannia Awards. Leaper notes that when she commissions a new look, it will usually be made with a sustainable fabric, which can start a conversation about eco-friendly fashion and clothing choices.

“Ellen Hodakova Larsson is dedicated to building a fully sustainable fashion house and changing the conversation of what sustainable fashion means today,” Blanchett’s stylist said of the designer. “Ellen uses heirlooms like these vintage spoons sourced in the Swedish countryside to create unexpected proportions and new associations. Grandma would be proud.”

Blanchett is not the only star to have chosen the Swedish designer’s garments for a red-carpet appearance. British actress Emma Corrin also wore an original design by Larsson: a dress made from belts, which she wore to the San Diego Comic-Con convention in July. Kylie Jenner and Camila Cabello are other celebrities who have recently opted for Larsson’s designs, and it looks like they will soon be joined by many more willing to wear spoons, belts or whatever Larsson comes up with next.

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