The model warrior

Summer Rayne Oakes. Photo / Supplied

Summer Rayne Oakes almost seems too good to be true. A passionate environmentalist and social activist, she's also intelligent, eloquent, funny and a hot babe. Oakes is one of those girls who achieve a lot, and fast. At 25, she has already featured in the pages of Vanity Fair (they called her a "global citizen", praising her environmental work), is a resident expert on the Discovery Network's Planet Green channel, graduated from Cornell University and recently published her own fashion book, Style Naturally. She's been given her own moniker by the media - she is, apparently, the world's first "eco-model". And her name just so happens to be Summer Rayne (it is her real name, not a made-up one to match her environmentalism).

Going through her list of achievements is enough to make the cynic in you want to throw up, just a little bit. Except that when you meet her, she's so lovely and down to earth you walk away wondering why everyone can't be as environmentally passionate and accomplished. It's quite inspiring. Which is obviously what has helped get Oakes to where she is today.

Her passion for the environment began at an early age, growing up in a picturesque country town in Pennsylvania with her "straight up, salt of the earth" parents.

Nature and the outdoors acted as the background to Oakes' childhood. "I was the kid you couldn't get indoors because I was always outside, and when I was indoors, I brought everything outdoors in." Her affinity with nature led her to do research on the American Indians and other indigenous cultures, which also had a major affect on her future career path. "I appreciated how they knew everything about their environment, and not just the colloquial name of something, but what it was used for, and its place in the world. That really started peppering my view of the environment," says Oakes, who eventually went on to study Natural Resources and Entomology at Cornell University, writing papers on sewage sludge and campaigning to change federal regulation. But there was none of the stereotypical, earnest environmental student nonsense. "Most of my friends in college were not traditional environmentalists - they were just 'dudes who hang out'. They'd always make fun of me, I was always 'Summer the bug lady, the park ranger', the girl who had leeches in the refrigerator."

These same friends were the ones that inspired Oakes to tie her environmentalism in with what is seemingly a disparate industry: fashion. "Between my friends totally not getting me and my research not making quite as much of an impact that I wanted it to, I started trying to figure out how to get the environment out to a wider audience and make it relevant to people's lives.

"I figured that if I got into an industry that was as far away from the environment as possible, that I could actually make an impact," says Oakes, who drops phrases like abiotic sphere, interaction and pesticides into conversations about fashion, a reminder that she's an Ivy League graduate and not just a pretty face.

But it was that pretty face that eventually led Oakes into the world of "value-based modeling", working with brands that are environmentally and socially relevant. "I decided that if I was going to go into the fashion industry, it wasn't just to go and be a fashion model, that wasn't my passion - it was just a creative way to get into the industry. I didn't see myself doing anything but partnering with folks who shared my values.

"I never really understood, if you're going to put your face to something, why would you put it to something that you might not believe in or might not share your values - or has no values at all." And though Oakes admits she wasn't particularly interested in fashion and beauty initially, she has come to appreciate what style means and the cultural history behind it. "I've become obsessed with the idea that design could actually solve a problem, whereas in the past design may have caused problems. It's incredibly intriguing to me, if you can capture that in a piece, in a design, in a fashion statement, then that story behind it becomes so much more value added." Oakes' own outfit when I met her in Auckland is a good case study in fashionable, value-added clothing. She looks casual but stylish, in a Levi's organic cotton jacket, Katharine Hamnett T-Shirt, a recycled necklace made by a Persian woman, a quirky metal bug ring, and a pair of bright Aware Network hi-tops, made from recycled mola by women in Colombia.

They're so loud and incredible they would turn on even the most hardcore sneaker freaker. "Everything has a story to it. I like that if someone comes up to me and says 'hey, sweet sneakers girl!' I can be like, well, actually..."

This light-hearted and accessible approach to sustainable style runs through Oakes' new book, a shopping guide to sustainable fashion and beauty. It's a nice change from the typical over-the-top earnestness of most green guides, something that Oakes herself was conscious of when writing it. "I said to myself, I need a book that can sit right next to say, Tim Gunn's Guide to Style, and look the part. And if it sat next to another green book, it would completely obliterate it, it would blow it out of the water! All green books to me look the same; they're all green, their text is black, green or brown, they always have those 'did you know' boxes, and they just don't relate to my life," says Oakes. "I wanted to create a book that looked like a fashion book." And, she jokes, she also wanted to feature profiles and photos of cute guys. "My publishers wanted to make their photos really tiny, and I was like, 'no way, blow them up!'. I want the girl reading it to be in love with them. I feel like that's what's missing in so many fashion and green books; that personal, human nature of what's behind it. The fun aspect, and feeling like you can relate to somebody."

A new spin on fashion

It might be easy to see this eco-fashion stuff as a trend, because that's the way the fashion industry works, right? Fashion is an unforgiving world, where you are measured by how many seasons you have under your vintage leather belt. It's like clockwork. Tick, tock, tick, tock: counting down the days until you can turn the page to see the next big thing. But when you recognise that sustainability goes far beyond the element of fashion, it makes perfect sense: it's not design for the sake of design any longer. It is true design, a way of thinking and a way of doing business that sets out to solve a problem, remedy an issue, or make a difference. That's part of the reason why this eco-stuff is so cool. It's much bigger than fashion. It goes far beyond trends. It's got legs. Sustainability is not going to be "in" one season and "out" the next. What will change is how it is packaged and perceived.

Green is the new invisible

I don't know who first used the phrase, "Green is the new black," to describe the eco-fashion movement, but the first time it was used, it was brilliant. The second and third time, it was cute. After the fiftieth time it showed up, it just became (yaaawwwnn), well, excuse me for saying this, but sooooo two seasons ago. Yes, of course, I am happy that eco-stuff is showing up everywhere. The point is that as our knowledge of the issues grows, our expectations shift. Our perception of sustainability will shift, as should the language. Smart companies and designers will adjust to the changes. One day, we'll wake up and green will not be the new black, it will be the new invisible. Meaning, no longer will sustainable be the exception or something that's considered au courant; instead, it will be a matter of course - something that all designers incorporate in their design ethos.

* Extract from Style, Naturally by Summer Rayne Oakes (Chronicle Books: $49.99).