When she’s not treading the catwalks of The Row or Jil Sander, 30-year-old Marte Mei van Haaster spends most of her time in Land-Ally, a hectare of land located in the Netherlands, between the towns of Geldrop and Eindhoven, over which she has been watching for a year and a half now. The Dutch model set out to transform this former agricultural site into a participatory nature reserve, “a space for interspecies collaboration, between human beings, plants and animals”. This project was born during the writing of the thesis of his master’s degree in social design (“Design at the service of political causes, such as the ecological emergency”), at the Design Academy of Eindhoven.
“My research focused on an alternative care system to protect nature, in a community spirit. The idea was to think of a different method than that of “rewilding” [qui consiste à laisser un environnement se régénérer sans intervention humaine, afin qu’il retrouve son fonctionnement naturel], by creating a symbiotic connection between humans and nature, in the hope that perhaps this also inspires a sense of responsibility…”
“ I would love to work for more sustainable brands, but there aren’t many of them on the fashion scene. Marte Mei van Haaster
During her work, she met many women owners of a garden or piece of land which they took care of. One of them, seduced by his project, offered to take care of one of his lands. This is how they concluded a contract making Marte Mei van Haaster “the official custodian of this plot”.
Androgynous face and slender silhouette, spotted young in an Amsterdam street, the latter has experienced a meteoric rise in fashion. Very close to Nicolas Ghesquière (artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s women’s collections) and muse of Céline during the Phoebe Philo period, she has become, in ten years, an essential figure in fashion weeks. “I would like to work for more sustainable brands, but there aren’t many of them in the high-end fashion scene. There are many independent labels and small companies that base their model on recycling or repair. I wish these ethical methods would become more common. »
Ecoanxious
Marte Mei van Haaster parades less now, aware of the difficult articulation between her ecological commitment and her job as a model in the service of a polluting industry. “It’s a very conflicted relationship and I’ve often wondered if quitting modeling would do me any good, if it would allow me to no longer feel such a burden. But, on the other hand, I’m trying to think about how I can form an alliance with nature within the fashion industry rather than getting away from it. How can I make my voice heard? Because I also feel that if everyone who has something positive to say on the ecological issue leaves, there will only be people who don’t care. »
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