Living Well, Living Green: Supermodel Angela Lindvall About Repping Eco-unfriendly Brands

As a supermodel--and we mean that literally--Angela Lindvall has been a cover girl for Vogue, Elle, Harper's Bazaar and countless other big-fashion mags. Inside their pages, she's the face of brands from Valentino to Missoni. I talked with the ecoista from her Topanga Canyon home about becoming the new face of DKNY's new Pure fragrance, which sources sustainable vanilla from a fair trade cooperative in Uganda, as well as the sticky subject of how she comes to terms with representing brands that might not reflect her personal ideals.

For the past ten years, Angela has managed to bring a personal interest in sustainability to her professional life. After realizing that the mainstream media wasn't talking about environmental issues, she founded the non-profit Collage Foundation, which uses the "you get more bees with honey" approach to stimulating awareness. "If you are coming in as a radical people aren't going to respond very well," she said. "But if you come from a place of inspiration and invitation you'll get a much better response."

The model/actress--she appeared in 2005's "Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang"--co-hosted "Alter Eco" with Adrian Grenier, which might just very well have been her dream job if it didn't involve working 13-hour days, six days a week, then modeling on weekends to make her mortgage payments. Oh, and she did her own hair, makeup and wardrobe--a challenge for Angela who admits, "I'm probably the least fashionable person. At home I'm in my jeans and tank top. If I shop it's at vintage stores."

But with DKNY Pure, an upcoming gig as the spokesperson for Biotherm's new organic line and appointment to the founding board of National Resources Defense Council's Clean by Design Initiative, the professional and the personal are beginning to align. "For so long, I felt like my fashion career was on one side [and] my passion and environmental endeavors were on the other side. It's super exciting that they're starting to collide," she said. "It's really exciting to believe in something that I represent."

And no, the 31-year-old mother of two and former Victoria's Secret catwalker might not do runway anymore--"I don't really have that Twiggy runway body anymore," she said, "which I'm happy about." But we might just see her at the Green Shows this season.

For more of EcoStiletto's exclusive interview with Angela Lindvall--including how motherhood has changed her perspective and the one eco-sin she can't give up--please visit our EcoCelebrity page.

Savings.com Green Guru Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff is a writer, producer and marketing consultant who focuses on sustainable fashion, beauty, lifestyle and parenting--and the creator of EcoStiletto.com, an online magazine which explains, in real-girl terms, how eco-friendly choices can help turn your carbon footprint from a ginormous Ugg into an oh-so-slender Manolo.