Want to give a shout-out to Tierra from del forte denim for giving me a shout-out in Grist. Read her full interview HERE. (Her jeans really do have some form of crack in them to make one's ass look so delectable...)
Which stereotype about environmentalists most fits you? 
Thankfully, I think the stereotype is changing to include people like me who care a lot about style and aesthetics and who don't want to cut down on our consumption, but who also want to buy products and services that are environmentally and socially responsible. Model, TV host, and social entrepreneur Summer Rayne Oakes is the embodiment of someone with great fashion sense who is also passionate about sustainability and the environment. She looks amazing in Del Forte Denim and is helping to prove that being an environmentalist can be sexy.
Sweatshops on the Brain
Thanks from a tip from Remy and the previous posting on fashion.psfk, we've been alerted to this great video about people's thoughts on sweatshop labor. Conclusion: NEED MORE INFORMATION ON WHO'S DOING A BAD, BAD THING. Clearly the right move too, considering the repeated reference to Nike. If you remember back in the mid-90's, a huge marketing and PR campaign was put out in the public on Nike's reprehensible working conditions for their soccer balls and later everything else. Nike lost so much money and a huge chunk of the market, it forced them to rework their practices. Luckily for that company, they are back in business, but it looks as if they will always be the poster child for sweatshop musings.
Someone in the video mentions sweathsop videos and more information, check out BEHIND THE LABEL (not my editorial, but the organization)! They have plenty of videos behind-the-scenes and outside-the-scenes HERE.
Also check out AS YOU SOW. Gap social responsibilty report? Apple recycling? Wal-Mart watch? Time Warner codes of conduct? Labeling tuna cans for toxins? Yah, that's them. They utilize markets and shareholder leverage ($$$ people), to transform corporate behavior from reprehensible to poor to better. What a great idea, right?
Someone in the video mentions sweathsop videos and more information, check out BEHIND THE LABEL (not my editorial, but the organization)! They have plenty of videos behind-the-scenes and outside-the-scenes HERE.
Also check out AS YOU SOW. Gap social responsibilty report? Apple recycling? Wal-Mart watch? Time Warner codes of conduct? Labeling tuna cans for toxins? Yah, that's them. They utilize markets and shareholder leverage ($$$ people), to transform corporate behavior from reprehensible to poor to better. What a great idea, right?
Robert Moses was packed on Wednesday afternoon, including the infamous Field #5 (a.k.a. the "nudie" beach). Surf fiend photographer friend, Jon and I found a secluded spot behind the T&A to shoot some quick shots for Shayne over at Voltaic Systems. We had a run-in with a kind cop ("just doing my job, ma'am") - and what a fine job that must be! Attempted to surf after chatting it up with the po-po, but the waves were breaking too close to the shore. Went for a dip instead - not such a bad tradeoff for a Wednesday. Oh yeah, back to the solar-powered bags: charges your cell phone, PDA, Ipod, and Camera....and stores your sun screen, shades, bottled water and towel....all essentials for the not-so-average nude beach-goer.
Photo shoot for Lois Anshus and Ronnie Designs.
Here are some quick shots from the ECO-PETAL runway compliments of Peter McCabe, who did a good job providing that the lighting was a little uneven. As for incriminating photos, aside for me getting jiggy with William onstage; girls boobies flying all over the place; Joey House's attention "grab-me" bustier;and....Eddie Van Halen slinking around...there wasn't much else. TUNE back here to see the VIDEO. Hopefully they didn't get my bad opener joke to my speech, but heck, if they did, I can take it...I'll give you the lowdown on the clothes. I spoke in Anna Cohen's "Change Be Strong." organic long tee and her hemp denim jeans, which were fabulous and very slimming. White silk dress by Sanni and tierra by iblossom. Blue dress and knitted drape scarf was organic cotton jersey with natural plant dyes by Tinctoria. The final look was an organic cotton puff-sleeve (see through woooo-wooo!) shirt by Ecoganik and a tencel skirt by Carol Young's (fellow Cornellian wooo-wooo!) Undesigned label. And of course, William is sporting some Loomstate...
First Grist had their list....Now Treehugger has theirs...Want to give a shout out to the peeps at Treehugger.com for putting me on their list. Won't let you down, THers!I just bumped into Kyeann, their wandering correspondent and Jacob, their L.A. correspondent (carrying a Voltaic Systems backpack, nonetheless) at the ECO-PETAL Ecofashion Event in L.A. I divulged that I go to Treehugger.com at least twice a day, and if I'm gone for a while without internet connection, I make sure I read all the past posts. I don't drink coffee or smoke cigarettes, but I inhale treehugger. Not sure what that makes me. "Hi my name is Summer Rayne, and I read Treehugger religiously...."
...Because she had this funny feeling before I was born that I was going to be an artist when I grew up...
I came across some of my old artwork last month. Found it stashed on a floppy disk (yes, a floppy disk) in my ancient laptop. It's too bad the photographs + scan didn't capture all of the details from the drawings, but that's what you get with archaic technology.
The top was an image called "Reflections," inspired by Edward S. Curtis' image of a medicine man (age 16). I intended it to be a statement of what we can and will become... A look into Present-Past, Past-Future, Present-Future.
The bottom is called "Transformation." I used the likeness of my own face, meant to be slightly androgenous to give no bias to a man or woman. The "spiritual" and "visual" transformation metamorphed into Earth's creatures. Part of it was cut off in the scan, but it included aboriginal countenances, tree frog, lizard, chameleon, bird, butterfly, and tree insect. The species "look" like actual species, but were meant to be slightly different to give them no bias to any one creature. I created symmetry with the piece, but also made it a point to combine each organism's feature as part of another, symoblic that we all come from the same place. Hence, the tree frog's eye, was the eye of the aborigine; the pads of it's foot was part of the aborigine's nose. The entire drawing was circular, symbolic in many indigenous tribes, representing the circularity of the world.
I've "retired" my drawing for quite some time now. Note that I did these when I was 16 and 17. I wish I had more to put up, but I sold so many of my pieces even before I turned 18. Probably will pick it back up again when I'm a little older....We'll see...
The top was an image called "Reflections," inspired by Edward S. Curtis' image of a medicine man (age 16). I intended it to be a statement of what we can and will become... A look into Present-Past, Past-Future, Present-Future.
The bottom is called "Transformation." I used the likeness of my own face, meant to be slightly androgenous to give no bias to a man or woman. The "spiritual" and "visual" transformation metamorphed into Earth's creatures. Part of it was cut off in the scan, but it included aboriginal countenances, tree frog, lizard, chameleon, bird, butterfly, and tree insect. The species "look" like actual species, but were meant to be slightly different to give them no bias to any one creature. I created symmetry with the piece, but also made it a point to combine each organism's feature as part of another, symoblic that we all come from the same place. Hence, the tree frog's eye, was the eye of the aborigine; the pads of it's foot was part of the aborigine's nose. The entire drawing was circular, symbolic in many indigenous tribes, representing the circularity of the world.
I've "retired" my drawing for quite some time now. Note that I did these when I was 16 and 17. I wish I had more to put up, but I sold so many of my pieces even before I turned 18. Probably will pick it back up again when I'm a little older....We'll see...
William and I shared a special moment at the Eco Petals Ecofashion show in LA. Jason Olive caught the moment...or did he put us there? Who's to know...
Children's Environmental Literacy Foundation & ECOFASHION 101
Published Saturday, July 15, 2006 by SROmgmt.
This was one of the events that CELF put on. ECOFASHION 101 took up a booth along with Eileen Fisher and others. I remember exactly what I was talking about with this girl: cradle-to-cradle definition and what the difference is between organic and conventional cotton. Ann Wizer's XS Project bag that I'm holding was a huge hit among the students.
Just got word...Two days before my birthday I got another co-authored paper published, this time on the Organic Contaminants in Sewage Sludges in the science journal, Science of the Total Environment, Jun 1 2006. Okay, okay, I know it seems as if it is total irony, but if you really want to see how easily sewage sludge ties back into fashion, you'll have to read the editorial: Pro Style, Anti Sludge in Experience Life Magazine. And if you are a die-hard science geek who happened to ace your orgo, check out 1. the amount of contaminants we compiled in sludges and at what levels and 2. how those levels compare to Soil Screening Limits (SSLs) at SUPERFUND SITES - ALL RIGHT HERE You also can check out the first paper I did on sludges: Investigation of Alleged Sludge Health Incidents Associated with Land Application of Sewage Sludges, by Ellen Z. Harrison and Summer Rayne Oakes. New Solutions, Vol 12(4)387-408, 2002
I just want to give a
Why do we insist on purchasing pretty things that harm people and their environment? First looks from the PLASTICA Production Shoot...statement on greed, vanity, and conflict-diamonds....what we do to the Earth, we do to ourselves. For more information on conflict-diamonds and the Kimberly Process, click > here. Conflict-free diamonds? Check out Brilliant Earth.Alternatives to diamonds? Check out: Kirsten Muenster's fabulous pieces. If I were ever to be married, those are the stones I'm hitting up....stay tuned for more on Kirsten Muenster in July's Behind the Label.PLASTICA PRODUCTION: Foto : ron goldstein production :photomovement co-producer :landra lee , Make up Lottie , hair G42 , Fashion Design Arusyak
July 2006: Seeking designer labels that feature bamboo in their lines for editorial....Always looking for new labels for editorials, spec shoots, tv, and events. Contact us for more details.
Summary of updates from April-July 2006. Highlights from filming, editorial, special events, your questions, and more. Fill out this > contact form and receive the latest news.Below: stay tuned for images + video from the Eco-Petal Ecofashion Event in LA.
Filming, Filming, Filming, and just a little bit more filming. Caught a ride in a pedi-cab with Helen Kim. Believe me ladies and gents, she 's a lot more pleasant than her scenes in Kill Bill would suggest (see below).
Kim kicks @$$ above. Dmitry get pi$$ed below.
Steve (below) being quite goofy. He can surprisingly pedal in traffic with no hands (or eyes on the road). I'm not sure if that should impress me or scare the $hit out of me. Giving a mad shout out to the designers of my wardrobe: Tara Lynn's Earth Bitch collection (recycled tee), organic cotton zip-front sweater: Diety Aton; organic cotton jeans by Del Forte denim.
Chatting it up with a fellow at the Green Market.
Kim kicks @$$ above. Dmitry get pi$$ed below.
Steve (below) being quite goofy. He can surprisingly pedal in traffic with no hands (or eyes on the road). I'm not sure if that should impress me or scare the $hit out of me. Giving a mad shout out to the designers of my wardrobe: Tara Lynn's Earth Bitch collection (recycled tee), organic cotton zip-front sweater: Diety Aton; organic cotton jeans by Del Forte denim.
Chatting it up with a fellow at the Green Market.
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- From the frontlines: Tracking the latest news, updates, and projects of Summer Rayne Oakes
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