Josie Maran: a model citizen.

elephant is all about exporting eco-responsible values beyond our core or choir and to the masses. Who’s doing it in the realm of fashion? ~ ed.

The super + model confection is certainly overused—like any hyperbolic modifier, it started out meaning something, but now…well, every model who’s been on the cover of any magazine is casually called a “supermodel”, these days.

And so the question I have here isn’t, is any successful model eco-responsibility-minded? Because, certainly there are a few who come to mind—Summer Rayne Oakes, perhaps the world’s leading green-focused model, and wassername.

The question is—is there any truly ubiquitous, first-tier supermodel who is helping mainstream ecofashion values to the masses? Certainly, Giselle Bundchen comes to mind—but she really hasn’t done much to leverage her titanic fame and beauty for the good of Mother Earth and everyone and everything on it (yet). We’re holding out hope she’ll start leading the way.

For now, I’d say the most famous green-minded model is probably Josie Maran, who I met briefly a year or so ago at Eco Gift Festival (we have many mutual friends, but not being a fashion mag-reading guy, or a makeup-using dude, or an LA scenester, or even a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue boy anymore, I had little idea who she was at the time).

From Josie’s site:

At 17, she signed with Elite in Los Angeles, and her career as a professional model kicked into overdrive. Josie quickly earned a name for herself by landing some of the most coveted jobs in the business, including the cover of Glamour Magazine (she would go on to grace it five more times), and a stint as the iconic Guess girl. Soon, Josie was appearing regularly in top fashion magazines including Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, and Mademoiselle.

“As I began to land jobs, I discovered what a lot of other girls already knew: the power of makeup. I’d never even applied lip gloss, but I learned trade secrets from the team of expert artists who applied my makeup on photo shoots. I was surprised to see how makeup could transform not just my look but also my mood! I saw that a little could go a long way, and I stopped seeing makeup as the enemy.”

With a remarkable portfolio of commercials, advertisements, and music videos already behind her, Josie moved cross-country and signed with Elite in New York. In 1997, she landed a lucrative contract as the face of Maybelline, a title she held for nearly a decade. In another career coup, Maran was featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue three years in a row. Josie also made a successful transition into acting, appearing in feature films including Little Black Book, Van Helsing, and The Aviator.

But it was the birth of her first child that jumpstarted Josie’s latest endeavor. Josie explains, “Becoming a mother inspired me to take a look at my life and ask, “What can I do for the world? How can I contribute?” Having spent so many hours in the makeup chair, Josie was ready to create her own signature line. The result, Josie Maran Cosmetics, will launch in the fall of 2007. The products, made with superior ingredients and housed in chic, biodegradable packaging, embrace eco-friendly initiatives wherever possible.

“I want to contribute to making positive change, and I also want to create something fun, beautiful, and luxurious,” Josie says. “My dream is to build a brand with so much influence and popularity that my customers and I can work together to make the world a better place.”

Videos (which demonstrate either her green-ness or fame, or both).

Backstreet Boys!

Skip to 3 minutes:

Here’s just a brief rundown of her accomplishments, in both the fame and the green arenas. Via Wikipedia:

Signed at age 17 with the Elite modeling agency of Los Angeles, Maran appeared on her first cover with Glamour magazine in 1998, and she was the featured Guess? Girl in their summer 1998 and fall 1998 campaigns.

After building a résumé of over 25 commercials and advertisements, including playing Howie D‘s companion in the music video of Backstreet Boys hit Everybody (Backstreet’s Back), in which she was bitten on the neck by Count Dracula (played by Howie D), Maran moved cross-country to join with Elite in New York City. In 1999, she landed a multi-year deal with Maybelline.

Maran appeared in the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue for three consecutive years; from 2000 to 2002. Maran is also signed with London agency Storm Model Management, and 1/One Management in New York City.

She has a greenish makeup line. I don’t know much about it (we’ve sent repeated requests for review samples). Check out the packaging info:

There is no “away” …reuse, recycle or compost.

Recycle: All Josie Maran products are packaged in glass, aluminum, plastic or paper and can be recycled. The outer carton is a 30% post consumer waste product.

Compost: The corn based resin, known as polylactic acid (PLA), is formed into containers and packaging for food and consumer goods. The plastic has several things going for it. It’s made from a renewable resource, which means it has a big leg up—both politically and environmentally—on conventional plastic packaging, which uses an estimated 200,000 barrels of oil a day in the United States. Also, PLA is in principle compostable, meaning that it will break down under certain conditions into harmless natural compounds. That could take pressure off the nation’s mounting landfills, since plastics already take up 25 percent of dumps by volume. So, when you are finished with one of the products housed in our biodegradable compact remove the mirror and throw it into your compost.

The following producs are packaged in biodegradable plastic: blush, bronzing powder, cream blush, cream bronzer, eye shadow, finger paints and pressed powder.

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