Last week, Olivia Wilde made her debut as the face of H&M’s Conscious Exclusive line, and we have one thing to say: Yowza.

For too many, the idea of sustainable or eco-fashion carries connotations of dresses made of burlap bags or seaweed. Actually, hemp and plant-based fabrics can be hot; our latest green girl crush, Olivia Wilde, makes that abundantly clear in the Conscious Exclusive photos recently released by H&M.

We know it’s about more than the fashion, though; girl crushes don’t come that easily. We already know that Olivia Wilde is one of the greener high-profile gals out there (we’ve talked about her vegan lifestyle before), but after doing our research, we see that there’s so much more to love.

Image: H&M, “Conscious Exclusive 2015“

1. About those photos for Conscious Exclusive. 

Sure, we’ll begin with the obvious. I’ve never felt particularly motivated to try on a monochrome kimono-style dress, but I am now. “This is how all fashion should be,” Wilde is quoted as saying in H&M’s official Conscious Exclusive 2015 press release. “Great style that’s naturally more sustainable.”

Get your shop on, consciously. Still time for your gifts to make it under the tree http://t.co/sOHN3eFxks pic.twitter.com/2RgvYJwZP1

— Conscious Commerce (@consciousco) December 14, 2014

Image: Conscious Commerce

2. She puts her money where her mouth is.

Talk is cheap. In 2013, Olivia Wilde and c0-founder Barbara Burchfield launched Conscious Commerce: A website that features articles, products and content designed to help us make better day-to-day lifestyle decisions. From a vegan’s guide to Thanksgiving, to eco-friendly gift guides, Conscious Commerce will help us live, as the founders’ welcome letter so astutely puts it, without “being an asshole.”

I've been spending so much time in airports that I can no longer pee without 40 strangers in the room.

— olivia wilde (@oliviawilde) March 12, 2015

3. Her tweets are green…and hilarious.

Go home, Kim K. We’re much more interested in reading Olivia Wilde’s hilariously relatable tweets. They aren’t all about the giggles, though; Wilde often tweets about causes she believes in and supports, like her March 19th message about recycling clothing to reduce fabric wastage.

Signed! “@rachtothemeyer: @oliviawilde – help save The Ethical Community Charter School in Bed Stuy: https://t.co/37QmHS5y8s #KeepTECCSopen”

— olivia wilde (@oliviawilde) March 13, 2015

4. For her, it’s more than “green”.

Clearly, we love Olivia Wilde’s public concern for environmental issues, but she truly does seem to epitomize the concerned citizen. In addition to her eco-chic habits, she also serves on the board for Artists for Peace and Justice, an organization that promotes education in vastly underserved parts of Haiti. She makes similar efforts on behalf of accessible education, as she did with a recent tweet directing her followers to a petition in support of a Bedford–Stuyvesant charter school at risk of closing.

Rock on, Olivia.

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Image: Gage Skidmore

The post 4 Reasons Why Olivia Wilde is Our Latest Green Girl Crush appeared first on EcoSalon.

 

In case you haven’t seen the news, the Internet is all in an uproar over the Olivia Wilde breastfeeding images that look “too perfect.”

Critics argue that Wilde made something that’s often far from easy, look rather perfect. But that’s kind of what Olivia Wilde does, though—she makes things look perfect because she is so perfect looking. Olivia Wilde breastfeeding should be no exception.

While breastfeeding is growing in popularity with American moms, many still resort to formula feeding from the beginning because they’re not educated enough on the benefits of breastfeeding. And many more don’t breastfeed for the full first year of a child’s life, the minimum recommendation from the World Health Organization. Some women are intimidated by fears of showing breasts in public and the backlash public feeding can have. (A friend was asked to stop breastfeeding in a museum recently, she refused.) Some don’t do it because (gasp) some men find it unsexy.

But the critics are shaming Wilde for just the opposite reason: Making it look easy and beautiful and perfect. “[C]elebrity culture makes motherhood look effortless and easy, especially when it comes to breastfeeding,” Susan Rohwer wrote in the Los Angeles Times, suggesting that Wilde’s image is a fantasy that does a disservice to the women who don’t have makeup artists and stylists on hand before a photo opp. Rowher points a finger at Wilde as if to say she should be ashamed for being beautiful—that her “effortless” breastfeeding is a slap in the face to women who have a harder time with it. That statement is a much bigger slap in the face than Wilde being a beautiful mom. Are we not women united in motherhood? If one of us has a difficult time breastfeeding should none of us look happy or beautiful doing it? How does that help us, exactly?

Rowher and other critics aren’t totally wrong; breastfeeding is incredibly difficult. I’ve personally had an extremely challenging time breastfeeding, and to me, Wilde’s image is inspiring and hopeful. From plugged ducts more painful than labor itself, to finding out I didn’t produce enough milk for my daughter, it was–and still is (we’re still breastfeeding at 11 months)–positive images like this, and a circle of successful breastfeeding moms, that keeps me motivated despite the challenges we’ve had.

Yes, breastfeeding is hard, but even at its worst, most painful, most unsuccessful moments, there is still the bond between mother and child that even if it only happens once, is incredibly powerful and meaningful for both. Breastfeeding won’t happen for every mom. And for those it does happen for, there is often discomfort, stress, pain and struggle at times. But that doesn’t mean it’s not always an act that at its core is inherently beautiful, wonderful and absolutely perfect. Whether we look like Olivia Wilde or not.

Find Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

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