ARIZONA MUSE
she’s gone from the face of fashion’s top brands to the agitator behind the scenes inspiring the industry to reduce its environmental footprint…
arizona muse is browsing the racks of clothing set aside for her cover shoot, pulling out each garment, one by one. ‘What is this made of ?’ she asks, touching the fabric of one dress. ‘Is this recycled?’ she asks of another. They all sit on the spectrum of sustainability. Some pieces, such as a duvet coat by Stella Mccartney, are the product of years of work to reduce environmental impact. While others are part of collections by brands who are at the start of the process. Arizona isn’t puritanical. ‘I have clothes in my closet that aren’t sustainable,’ she says while discussing purchases she made before she developed a passion for environmentalism. ‘I’m not getting rid of them because that would also be a waste.’
One blouse, made by the label BITE, stands out on the rail. She knows the team behind it and can attest that the small company is committed to producing work that is kinder to the planet, unlike many big brands regularly accused of ‘greenwashing’. How to hold those to account? ‘One of the biggest things you can do as a consumer is to tweet, leave a comment on Instagram or email a brand saying, “I’m one of your customers and I want you to take more steps towards sustainability,”’ advises Arizona. Brands are waiting for that communication from their customers to do something differently.
Arizona would know. She began waving the flag for sustainability before it became the ubiquitous and fashionable buzzword it is right now. But how exactly does a supermodel go from starring in campaigns for Chanel, Prada, Fendi and Louis Vuitton to protesting in the streets against the climate crisis?
It was around 2014 when she began to question the toll fashion was taking on the planet and embarked on an informal re-education. ‘I realised that I didn’t know anything about the materials my clothes were made of,’ she explains. ‘But now I want to know everything about them – who grew them, the chemistry of the polymers, if the viscose from the trees was sustainably managed – meaning they’re not from old-growth rainforest, or from plants managed with pesticides that are wiping out all the insect populations. This is when you understand that a natural fibre doesn’t always necessarily mean that it’s helping.’
She’s equally committed to her attitude towards food, as demonstrated when we discuss biodynamic farming – a process that takes a holistic view of animals, crops and soil. Arizona doesn’t eat fish because the oceans are so polluted. But she will eat beef from cows raised by biodynamic agriculture. ‘I believe it’s one of the answers to climate change,’ she says.
Listening to her talk about everything from the loss of biodiversity to why companies need to set more aggressive carbon offsetting targets, I’m struck by the amount of personal growth Arizona has been through since we last met five years ago. ‘I was one of those people who thought I’m kind of too small to make a difference,’ she tells me after the shoot as we eat a lunch of warm lentils and salad greens. But the experience of mothering her son, Nikko, nine, and 14-month-old baby girl, Cy, with husband Boniface Verney-carron, has heightened her sense of urgency about future-proofing the planet.
And brands are waking up to her power and knowledge, meaning Arizona is much sought-after. She regularly speaks on panels about the topic and gave the introductory speech for the V&A exhibition, Fashioned From Nature. Behind the scenes, she works with brands to help them make smarter decisions about reducing their footprint and has partnered with conservation organisations such as Synchronicity Earth and the Sustainable Angle. Throughout it all, she maintains a sense of optimism. ‘I’ve become really excited about the solutions that are there for us. We know how to change this, we just need to do it quickly because time is running out.’ KH
As part of her sustainable fashion mission, rent Arizona’s wardrobe from mywardrobehq.com