Inside Emma Watson’s Sustainable Fashion-Filled Closet

Here’s a fun game to play: We talk sustainable fashion, and you try to stay awake through to the end of the sentence. Still there?

We’re kidding, of course. But we wouldn’t be lying if we said that for too long, conscious fashion has had a reputation for being not just a snooze, but something best paired with patchouli—the furthest possible thing from what you think of when it comes to mega-wattage red carpets or Parisian ateliers.

Despite the leaps and bounds that’ve been made, making not just the urgency of sustainable dressing clear, but making it look good, is a challenge all too familiar to Emma Watson. “I’ve wanted to move away from calling anything ‘green,’ ‘eco,’ or ‘sustainable,’” Watson explained as we had our way with the contents of her closet during a recent trip to London. “Because those words are very non-descriptive in most ways! It’s very difficult to know what they actually mean.”

While the actor’s been a vocal proponent of conscious dressing for years, she knows part of the power of her platform lies in not just telling, but showing. Enter @the_press_tour, the dedicated Instagram account behind her (scrupulously certified c/o EcoAge) sustainable wardrobe for her Beauty & the Beast publicity blitz. There’s shot after shot of Watson in far-flung, glamorous locales, from Paris to Shanghai, all with the requisite wardrobe to match. And while the glitzy images might be what draw thousands in, what separates Watson’s recent appearances is the captions that accompany them, like the one detailing how the powder-blue Emilia Wickstead princess gown happens to be made from recycled fabrics and by an all-female team, or the Louis Vuitton dress made from recycled polyester created from plastic bottles.

Before it all went down, we got a sneak peek into the heavy lifting that’s gone into Watson’s recent efforts in London. After all, what better time than your turn as the lead in a looong-anticipated blockbuster live-action Disney film to really walk the proverbial walk and make some noise about something you really believe in?