Summer Rayne Oakes
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Summer Rayne Oakes (born June 1984) is an American-born model known for her social entrepreneur work in ecofashion and related sustainability ventures. Because of her close ties to the environment, she is often referred to as "The Eco-model." [1]
Her work has been featured on CNN, NPR, Sirius Satellite Radio, NY1, Current TV, Video Fashion News, the Fashion & Beauty Channel, and LinkTV. Recent interviews and articles have appeared in French Vogue, Elle magazine, Lucire, Experience Life, Artist Interviews, Entertainment World, GQ, Healthy Living, E, The Fader, Yogi Times, The Lazy Environmentalist, Sustainable Industries Journal, and Grist Magazine.
On September 5, 2005, Oakes launched "Behind the Label", a bimonthly sustainable style editorial produced for Lucire. On October 23, 2006, Oakes took over as acting editor for the magazine. In September 2006, Oakes also launched the S4 Newsletter, reporting on sustainability trends in fashion.
Her educational curriculum entitled ECOFASHION 101 links pop culture, fashion, and mainstream media into traditional subject topics and was launched in Philadelphia schools in September 2005.
Summer Rayne was represented by Boss Model Management in New York City from September 2004 to July 2005 until she went under private management. That same month, she founded SRO, a consulting and production firm focused on sustainable business.
Oakes currently co-hosts Eco 4 the World created by Big Durian Productions.
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[edit] Early years
During her high school years, Summer Rayne was an avid artist and poet and a self-taught naturalist.
Oakes began modeling while in college at Cornell University where she was studying environmental science and entomology. She was approached by a Philadelphia-based modeling agency, which later led her to New York City where she now resides. Her first project brought attention to sustainable fashion and rainforest conservation with photographer John F. Cooper's, and stylist Peter Brown's, Organic Portraits series.
Oakes is a Udall Scholar and National Wildlife Federation Fellow. She is also a United Nations US Partnership Youth Emissary, a program founded in conjunction with the United Nations Decade for the Education of Sustainable Development and the Millennium Development Goals. Her current work as a model is exclusively tied to socio-environmental issues, sustainability, equitable trade and education.
[edit] Personal life
Summer Rayne has never been married. She is reportedly single, but has been linked to dating fellow environmentalists in the past.
[edit] Publications
- Behind the Label. 2005-2007. Lucire Magazine
- S4 Newsletter. Winter 2006-2007. SRO llc
- Investigations of Alleged Sludge Health Incidents Associated with Land Application of Sewage Sludges. 2002. New Solutions Journal
- Organic Chemicals found in Sewage Sludges. 2006. Science of the Total Environment
[edit] Interviews
[edit] Quotes
—Lucire, April 2005
- "The glamorous appeal that surrounds modelling really helps target a wider and more varied audience for the causes that I am associated with. Environmentalism and humanitarian issues are hot button topics all the time, but usually within certain cliques. My image is the primary draw for most viewers, but I've received countless mail from individuals who inadvertently learn about my work and can relate to it, are interested in it, or are inspired by it. It's really energizing to hear what they have to say. You don't always get that appeal and response from general audiences to traditional activism. I think it's a viable way to engage fringe groups."
—Made in Hong Kong article on fair trade, February 2006
- "Don't get me wrong, I care. I care a whole deal, which is why I was there. But for my generation, we realize that there is a glut of 'F*** you' finger-pointing that is clogging the political pipelines, and we are in desperate need of an enema.
—Experience Life Magazine, April 2006
- "I've always cared for the environment, but I've never wanted to be limited to studying or caring for just one aspect of it. I want to use all my assets toward making a difference."
—Grist Magazine, September 2006
- "Take me out to [a bog mat] and I would be shoving my nose in moss or looking at insects. I get really excited about that kind of stuff!"
—Capricho Magazine, November 2006 [after asking who started calling her "The Eco-model"]
- "I think the press first started using that phrase [to describe me]. It doesn't really describe the depth of my work, but it does roll off the tongue quite nicely, doesn't it? I guess if I were a comic book character, I'd be somewhere between Captain Planet and Wonder Woman, and that isn't half bad."
—SRO News Blog, November 2006 [on discussing the pressure to be thin in the modeling industry]
- "Though this issue is not something I speak out about directly, I do hope that young women can take away a healthy lifestyle from my own work. If you do not take care of yourself and do not learn to embrace your body in a healthy manner, then you will not be able to live happily or create the change that you wish to impart on the earth. Beauty is not strictly about physical features. It is about inner confidence, peace with oneself, and a good heart. Don't compromise your health. It's not worth it."
—Sustainable Industries Journal, December 2006
- "Just from my background, I've really honed in on a lot of broad skill sets...I was also asking in my own life, how can I get my environmental and social issues that I feel most passionate about out to a mainstream audience? How can I get this brand or this product or this company out into the mainstream? There are so many companies that are doing good and do have a good message, and not getting the limelight they deserve..."
—Ibrido TV, December 2006
- "I didn't see what I wasn't able to do, but more of what I was capable of. "
—Ibrido TV, December 2006
- "I would define optimism as the belief in hope...Just imagine all the experiences you have left to experience; all the people you have left to touch or be touched by; and all the dreams you have left to do."
—Speech on entrepreneurship to Gettysburg students, January 9, 2007
- "When you do your own thing, it forces you to innovate. I started my own business because I couldn't find a company or organization that shared the same vision I had for the future. I felt the need to develop a broad-skilled approach, so I have a tendency to do all sorts of things - consulting, modeling, writing. Most everything I do, however, is centered on sustainability. My passion is for people and the environment. I look at what I do very much as a business as well as an educational awareness campaign. I don't consider it a job or a hobby. I consider it a responsibility, a way of life."
—San Francisco, March 2007 [on the eco trend in fashion]
- "The biggest excitement in the industry now is on the fringe. The people making this happen aren't major designers."
[edit] Stats
- name = Summer Rayne Oakes
- location = Pennsylvania, USA
- height = 5'10½" (179 cm)
- weight = 130 lbs (59 kg)
- measurements = 35-25-37 (US); 88-62-90 (EU)
- dress size = 6-8 (US); 36-38 (EU)
- shoe size = 10 (US); 42 (EU)
- hair color = dark brown
- eye color = dark brown
- ethnicity = German, Dutch, American Indian, Welsh, Polish
- nationality = American
