Arizona Muse is the super model for sustainability

American supermodel Arizona Muse started modelling as a teen and gained exposure quite early on as she was chosen to open and close Prada’s Spring/Summer 2011 catwalk show in Milan even though she was a relatively new face in the scene. Her illustrious career as a model saw her on the cover of Vogue as well as fashion campaigns for big luxury brands such as Prada, Louis Vuitton, and Estée Lauder.

Looking back, Muse, who is now a mother of two, described that period in her life made her feel so uncomfortable in her own body, and stressed about the way she looked. "That was at the height of my career when everything was going the best of the best, [but] my self-confidence and self-esteem were the worst of the worst. I felt horrible about myself. I hated myself. I would go to exercise classes and punish myself and be mean to myself and it was just a horrible life that I was living.”

What saved Muse from her misery was a re-education of life through mother earth. At about 27, Muse delved into learning about biodiversity and that definitely ignited joy in her which also led to her decision to become an environmentalist. Her face lights up talking about it. “I love it. I love learning. It turns my brain on. When I was only modelling, my brain felt like it was underwater. I thought I was really dumb. And then I started learning about the environment and about sustainable fashion. And I just felt like, Oh! I can breathe again!”  

Muse has not quit modelling, she’s just very picky with the job she chooses now. “I model a lot less and I model in a way that, I have boundaries now, I protect my time with my children. I don't travel every three days to different countries. I mean, I was eternally jet lagged for years, and it was so hard on my body, my physical body, my emotional body,” says Muse who dedicates most of her time to her charity DIRT, Foundation for the Regeneration of Earth. 

She believes that biodynamic agriculture is one of the simplest and most enjoyable, waste-free solutions because soil is present everywhere so anyone can become a biodynamic farmer or gardener and help regenerate life within soil. She explains further about her work at DIRT: “Everything we need comes from it. Which is why I chose to create DIRT, a charity to support regenerative farming practices.” Muse’s charity is focused on the practice of regenerative, biodynamic, agriculture to promote soil health, biodiversity, ecological balance and enriching local communities. To achieve this vision, the charity relies on fundraising, cooperation and educational initiatives. 

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For someone like Muse who has spent almost a decade on the inside of the fashion industry, she hopes she can now use her influence to spread awareness of fashion’s intrinsic connection to the environment.  

“I want to share this story because it's important that we know that our models, who are sometimes our role models, are very unhappy in this system. For me, my ticket out of that depression and severe self-loathing was to learn, and now I feel like I'm just a human who's living in service to the earth, and I feel amazing. I love my life.” 

In our exclusive interview with Arizona Muse, she talks to us more about how to start living a sustainable life and why every little action counts. 

What are some sustainable practices you found that were most impactful in reducing your ecological footprint?

There are many things - but let's start with my wardrobe. I love buying secondhand, that's the biggest cheat and it's a positive cheat. If I need something and I can't find it secondhand, I go to a business that I know is doing things in a much better way. I know they’re being very careful about the materials they source, paying people properly, and that makes me feel much better about the purchase.  

How about some practical tips for individuals who want to live a more sustainable lifestyle?

It's not obvious where to start but I would say start in your own home. Start with the things that you buy. So every time you buy something, you have a choice, you can buy something, and do a little research. Instagram is a great resource for sustainable shopping.  

Every individual makes a difference, right? 

Of course! And we can be empowered and you'll find as you get educated, that you love this. It's like a game. How sustainable can I be? What can I learn? For example, I don't want plastic wrap in my kitchen anymore. I know what it's doing. I actually like beeswax wrappers. Some of them you can even put in a compost, try to start composting at home if you have a garden, all of these things will change everything and watch. There are so many wonderful documentaries now on how to be more sustainable, how to grow food differently. And it's really inspiring, these stories. 

So, what are some recent documentaries you would recommend?  

So I'm going to recommend a few. ”The Biggest Little Farm” is a story of these people in LA who are like conventional farmers but they bought a farm and started farming. It’s really inspiring to watch their story. 

A new one is called “The Territory” — a very important story about indigenous people. It’s on Amazon. You learn so much about the conflict there, about what's happening, about the history of it, and it's beautiful, it's a really emotional moving documentary. 

Another one that was really important to me, it's called “Damnation”. It’s about rivers and it really helped me to understand the whole fishing industry and salmon and what's gone wrong with all of that.

How do you see the future of sustainable living in the fashion industry? 

I foresee a future where we do it, where we actually change our entire supply chain to end all of our fashion businesses to become vehicles for change, where our attitude and our contracts between the businesses and the directors are no longer just saying make as much money as you can. But instead, they say, use this business as a vehicle to pay people as much money as you can along the supply chain to buy the best materials available for the environment.  

And what role do you hope to play in shaping that future?

I feel very positive about the future, particularly now that I'm doing this work through our DIRT charity.  We are really working hard to change the fashion supply chain, and to bring funding where it needs to go in order to make systemic change that lasts forever. So if you can, please do donate to the charity, please have a look at what we're doing, we are a very transparent charity. 

You can ask us anything about where the funding goes, you can direct where your funding goes, if you want to, please know that we use every penny wisely, we take a very tiny percentage, if you donate to our projects, and you'll find those on our website, we take only 15% of those donations. The remaining 85% we send it all to the projects, which is a very high percentage for charities, and we're really pleased to be able to do that. But that's our mission - to get funding where it needs to go.  

Fashion and beauty industries are evolving in terms of sustainability. What do you see as the most promising development in these fields in recent years?  

I think we're buying less. When we go shopping, we don't need to buy 15 things. And we don't need them to be the cheapest. Maybe we buy one thing instead. And it's more expensive, but it's of better quality, and we're going to keep it longer and treasure it. Yeah, I think that is changing. 

I encourage people to realise that when you shop, and you've got a good deal, question that. Because if you got a good deal, it means someone else got a really bad deal. So don't feel good about that good deal, feel bad about it. But if you're buying one thing that's a really high quality and, and it may be more expensive but you can be like, proud of yourself and proud that you’re buying this and not getting that good deal. You are proud that someone else is also being paid fairly. And that these materials are having a conscious effect on the planet. You know, it feels different. It feels really good.