Dazzling dresses, sparkling miniskirts and shiny gold tops: 'tis the season to wear sequins.
Shop windows are currently glittering with festive outfits adorned with more glitter than a disco ball – and if you've got a Christmas party coming up, chances are many women there will be wearing sequins.
Sequins and Christmas have long gone hand in hand, but this year the trend seems bigger and shinier than ever.
They've been seen on the catwalks of Valentino, Gucci and Chloe and sparkling down the red carpet at awards shows by A-listers like Amal Clooney.
Sequined garments are selling out on the high street, with shoppers snapping up Zara's £69.99 sequin panties, while H&M's sequin-back dress went viral and is being resold on eBay for £250 (nearly five times the £54 price tag .99).
Amal Clooney (pictured) wore a sequin dress to the Fashion Awards in London
They have been seen on the catwalks of Valentino, Gucci and Chloe and sparkling red carpets at awards shows by A-listers such as Amal Clooney (pictured)
Ms. Clooney's dress was covered in gold and red sequins in various sizes
A recent survey of 2,000 British women conducted by the charity Oxfam found that 40 percent of us were planning to buy a sequined garment for the holidays. On average, we buy 33 million garments with sequins at this time of year.
But, say the experts, all that glitters is not gold. “Sequins are a huge environmental problem,” says Charlotte Broadbent, personal stylist, beauty expert and founder of Charlotte Loves.
'It's all plastic, which takes at least 200 years to decompose. When it ends up in a landfill, it releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas, thus contributing to global warming.”
As they are also seasonal purchases, sequined garments are more likely to be dumped than all-year-round garments, contributing to the UK's £140 million annual waste pile.
And when it's made on an industrial scale, with machines punching millions of tiny discs from large plastic sheets, what's left must be thrown away, often by incineration.
Alexa Chung dazzled at the Fashion Awards in a dress with large silver sequins
Eva Longoria wore a dress with thousands of gold sequins to the Academy Museum Gala in Los Angeles this month
Ashley Roberts dazzled in a strapless dress with blue, green, purple and black sequins at The Fashion Awards
Michelle Williams wore a silver sequin dress to the Academy Museum Gala earlier this month
Even if you're still wearing it, a sequin outfit sheds sequins liberally and often.
The loose, angled way in which they are attached to clothing (done in such a way that they catch the light) causes them to fall off very quickly, adding to cumulative plastic waste.
Even the material they are sewn to, usually lightweight polyester (which they adhere to easily without wrinkling), adds another layer of environmental damage.
“It makes a significant contribution to microplastic emissions, which will eventually end up in waterways and the food chain,” says stylist Jacqueline Lythe.
Sequins are so divisive that younger shoppers are boycotting them. TikTok is full of videos of Gen Z influencers complaining about their environmental crimes, with some comparing sequins to fur.
Meanwhile, some High Street brands, such as Boden, have ditched them completely. Others, including Whistles, Monsoon and ethical brand Aspiga, have switched to sequins made from recycled plastic.
“We know this is far from a perfect solution, but as innovation evolves, we strive to use the best possible solutions to maintain your sparkle with the least impact on the planet,” says Whistles.
Lorraine Pascale was dressed from head to toe in black sequins at The Fashion Awards
Poppy Delevingne wore a white dress with white sequins at the Fashion Awards
Another sequin dress at the Fashion Awards was worn by Sophia Hadjipanteli
Sabina Jakubowicz combined a silver top with sequins with a long black skirt
Oprah Winfrey opted for bright purple for her sequined attire at the Academy Museum Gala
Jennifer Connelly wore a dazzling black and silver sequin jumpsuit to the event
Biodegradable sequins are not yet commercially available, although they do exist. In April, model Cara Delevingne appeared in Vogue wearing a jumpsuit, designed by Stella McCartney in collaboration with London-based designers Radiant Matter, made from BioSequins: disc-shaped beads formed from cellulose extracted from trees.
This was the first time designers created a plant-based, non-toxic, plastic-free sequin that resembles the real thing.
But sustainable sparkling is still in the development phase and it will likely take years before large-scale production occurs.
So what's the solution?
There are alternatives if you plan to give in to your peacock tendencies. Charlotte recommends renting items from companies like Hurr, My Garderobe HQ and By Rotation – or borrowing from friends: 'There aren't enough people sharing clothes – and that's the most sustainable thing you can do.'
Above all, Charlotte warns against 'buying the wrong thing at the last minute and only wearing it once. This feeds the cycle of fast fashion, landfills and environmental damage.”
Ella Krasner wore a sequin skirt at the Fashion Awards in the popular color silver
Dressed in a deep red sequin dress at the Academy Museum Gala was Jacqueline Stewart
Yet another sparkling silver dress was worn by Harley Viera-Newton at the Academy Museum Gala
Jurnee Smollett wore a dazzling sequin dress with a sheer mesh dress on top
However, this was not a problem for the ancient Egyptians, to whom the wearing of sequins can be traced. As early as 2500 BC, metal coins and baubles were attached to clothing as a sign of wealth or status.
Solid gold beads were sewn into royal clothing and were found in Tutankhamun's tomb.
The word “sequins” later came from the Venetian word “zecchino”, meaning a ducat coin (the currency used before the Napoleonic invasion of Italy at the end of the 18th century), which was translated into French as “sequins” .
The trend of the wealthy wearing pieces of reflective metal on their finest coats, hats and dresses continued into the 19th century, especially among the nobility.
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a synthetic plastic derived from petroleum, has been used since the 1960s.
So if you want to both shine and save the planet this holiday season, the advice is: go second-hand, pre-owned or borrowed.