Strikingly beautiful, Summer Rayne Oakes is a model, shoe designer, successful businesswoman, and activist, whose main concerns are socioenvironmental issues, sustainability, and international fair trade practices.She came to town recently when Juleanna Glover hosted a party for the Washington launch of Summer’s book Style, Naturally: The Savvy Shopping Guide to Sustainable Fashion and Beauty. That’s a big title, but it is a 350-page book with more than 500 illustrations, tightly packed with information on sources for styles, new sustainable fabrics, and beauty products that are easy on the environment and terrific.
Summer began modeling while at Cornell, graduating from the university with a bachelor of science in natural resources as well as entomology. A Morris K. Udall Scholar and a fellow of the National Wildlife Federation, she worked as a research assistant at the Cornell Waste Management Institute, writing papers on such unglamorous themes as organic chemicals in sewage sludge.
In 2007, Vanity Fair named her a “Global Citizen.” The magazine got that right: Today, you can find her checking rain forest regeneration in the central highlands of the Dominican Republic or trekking through Mozambique for sustainability studies. She is a spokesperson for the Discovery Networks’ “Planet Green,” and has appeared on CNN, MTV, BusinessWeek TV, to name a few programs. And a curriculum she developed, EcoFashion 101, brings environmental awareness to schools.
