![]() “Although I don’t know if it will ever fully leave me because of my desire to work with brands, and maybe they want to keep photographing me as I get older,” she added with a laugh and shrug of the shoulders. Because of that I feel myself, personally, the urgency to focus as much as I can and my attention here to really educate myself so I can be more impactful, and probably, eventually phase out of this sort-of day-to-day modeling job,” she said. “The urgency of what needs to happen in order to keep us below 1.5-degrees Celsius has never been more pressing. In the early ‘90s, she attended NYU, and the first class she took was “Politics of the Environment.” She said the class “ignited a fire in me,” admitting though, “I didn’t really start taking action until I had my son and moved to California because they were so ahead of the curve.”īased in a recently drought-filled Los Angeles, and outspoken about the deepening climate disparities, if anything is clear, she’s not slowing down. There were no group projects, though Valletta did help judge FIT’s biodesign competition. Over the pandemic she audited three courses at FIT. “I’m taking some online courses, meeting with new types of people, and really trying to understand different elements to the solutions to the climate crisis so that I can better facilitate problem-solving for brands and also to communicate better with the public.” (In 2019, she was arrested alongside fellow eco-activist Jane Fonda at a Washington, D.C., climate protest.)īut squarely right now, Valletta is committed to furthering her sustainability education. On the reasons her mom was protesting, “It all made sense to me,” she recounted.Īs sustainability ambassador to not only FIT but also brands like Karl Lagerfeld (where her newest sustainable denim collaboration drops in a few weeks), Valletta has taken the path of continued learning - but perhaps, like mom, not of least resistance. Valletta proudly claims her part-Cherokee ancestry and her mom successfully protested for years against the building of a power plant alongside local Indigenous activists. Today she’s investigating how that maternal influence and her rootedness to her family farm in Oklahoma subtly set her sustainability career in motion. Beforehand, Valletta spoke with WWD - on the mend from bronchitis though still polished in a crisp black blazer - on how she’s focused on furthering her sustainability activism through education.īefore the modeling world and Hollywood set eyes on Valletta, she had hers locked on her mother’s eco-activism. In a closing conversation at the Fashion Institute of Technology’s 17th annual sustainability conference, Valletta sat fireside with “Fashionopolis” author and journalist Dana Thomas to discuss the importance and role of activism and communication related to advancing sustainability in fashion. NEW YORK - Amber Valletta advocated for change long before sustainability became, well, fashionable.
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