Rama Duwaji’s case for circular fashion

At the mayoral swearing-in ceremony of Zohran Mamdani, New York’s new first lady, Rama Duwaji chose to wear borrowed outfits, sparking a renewed conversation around her intentional and thoughtful approach to style. Her decision went beyond aesthetics, reflecting a raw, authentic sense of self while making a compelling statement in favour of sustainability and circular fashion. By opting for loaned pieces, she also emphasised the importance of supporting independent and small businesses. This choice strongly resonates with the conscious, value-driven shopping mindset of the new generation as well.The American-Syrian artist wore two outfits for the occasion – one for the intimate swearing-in ceremony and another for the public inauguration and after-party.For the swearing-in ceremony, Duwaji opted for a rented vintage funnelneck Balenciaga wool coat sourced from Albright Fashion Library, a high-end fashion rental and styling service. She paired it with wide-leg shorts, which were on loan from the brand The Frankie Shop, and accessorised the look with gold vintage borrowed earrings from New York Vintage, a thrift boutique.For the public ceremony, Rama wore a chocolate-brown funnel-neck faux-fur coat from Renaissance, Renaissance, by Palestinian-Lebanese designer Cynthia Merhej. She finished the look with lace-up coffee-brown boots and silver earrings.Duwaji’s stylist Gabrielle Karefa-Johnson wrote in her newsletter, “Thrifting is something Rama does often – she’s an exceptionally savvy shopper – so renting secondlife fashion felt like the most authentic way to approach a moment of this magnitude. In both process and result, it’s clear she has no intention of showing up as anything other than herself.”It is a sustainable and practical approach to fashion that challenges the traditional notion of buying new clothes, wearing them, and discarding them. Circular fashion involves designing, using and reusing the same clothes for as long as possible. This can be done by repairing the clothes, reselling owned items, thrifting, renting clothes instead of buying them or creatively repurposing or rewearing existing pieces. The aim is to reduce textile waste, conserve resources and minimise the environmental impact of clothing production, while continuing to meet the demand for style and variety.Re-wearing and renting outfits were once seen as cheap or unfashionable. However, a shift is being noticed in this attitude. The new generation is consciously opting for circular fashion. They now believe that fashion is not just a way to showcase your style, but also an extension of your personality, a tool that communicates your story and what you stand for.As more celebrities openly embrace circular fashion, it is being rebranded as a cool, conscious choice.Cate Blanchett made a red-carpet appearance at the 2025 Venice Film Festival in a black floor-length Armani Privé gown, complete with a plunging bejewelled neckline. She wore the same outfit first back in 2022, at the SAG Awards.Zendaya is known for buying vintage and archived pieces from small businesses. Her second outfit from 2024’s Met Gala was a vintage Givenchy couture gown from the spring 1996 collection by John Galliano, which she sourced from the Los Angeles vintage boutique Lily et Cie rather than purchasing new from a retail collection.Alia Bhatt repurposed her ivory hand-dyed and hand-embroidered Sabyasachi wedding sari for the National Film Awards 2023 ceremony, styling it with understated makeup and a refined, minimal approach. Bhatt also re-wore her mehendi lehenga , custom-made by Manish Malhotra in 2022, for his Diwali bash in 2024. The designer recently shared that the lehenga was a strong example of sustainable fashion, as it was upcycled using fabric swatches and leftover embroidered patches from her previous outfits, brought together through detailed handwork instead of newly produced material.Samantha Ruth Prabhu repurposed her white wedding gown from her 2017 marriage to Naga Chaitanya into a striking black dress in April 2024, working with designer Kresha Bajaj to dye the original fabric black, alter the silhouette, and sew in floral and crystal details so the piece acknowledged her past while creating something new rather than erasing it. Samantha also explained that the transformation was part of her conscious move toward sustainability, saying repurposing the beloved gown was one of the steps she is taking to alter her habits and support longer use of existing garments.