By Noemi Plaza
This week, at our new and first series ‘In Conversation With’ we are very happy to introduce you to Marina Testino, a creative entrepreneur and founder of the brand Point Off View. You have probably already heard about her, due to her unmistakable voice and style (we personally love it!). But just in case we will tell you a bit more, Marina is also an active force for change in the world of fashion, sustainability and beyond. She is focused on raising awareness on conscious consumerism, and she does it through very fresh and impactful campaigns on social media. She has proved that good style shouldn’t have a negative impact on our environment.
My dedication to sustainable fashion came quite naturally to me – my family is very dedicated to sustainability and luckily, I received strong core values regarding the importance of preserving our environment.
I have also always had fashion in my life, as I grew up and started getting deeper in the industry, I was noticing how much impact we as an industry have on people and at the same time how we are promoting the wrong messages. I started my campaigns to find ways in which I could instigate positive change and be able to respect our environment.
How does Point Off View play into your mission and why Point Off View?
Point Off View is the vessel through which I communicate my messages, and where I create content that stands up for the values I believe in.
I would define Point Off View as a micro agency focused on sustainable transformation and communication, but most importantly, as the vehicle to express my own creative point of view. I believe that looking at things or situations from a different perspective, helps spread stronger messages and achieve great results.
The first step in coming up with new campaigns is always brainstorming, with other creatives, family and friends. I love hearing what they have to say about my ideas, and I take all their suggestions into account. From there, I try to give the themes I approach a fun and engaging twist.
I am happy with the outcome of all my campaigns, the last one #weseathrough, generated a lot of buzz and I loved seeing so many people taking part! With #weseathrough I faced small obstacles within instagram due to the nudity involved.
As well #WeSeaThrough was a tough one as it required a lot of studying haha! I was very fortunate to have the Ellen Macarthur Foundation and 5 Gyres help me with all the facts but since microplastics are relatively a new discovery there’s much information that we still don’t know.
Well, nudity was a double weapon to be honest. First of all, I found it the ideal statement against microplastics – they are everywhere, we wear them around our bodies every day because most clothes include at least a portion of synthetic (i.e. plastic) fibres – so going naked is the best way to dress sustainably.
This is exactly what motivated to start #onedresstoimpress, to stand up to the societal pressure in the fashion industry against repeating outfits. Of course, I had some odd looks here and there, especially at the beginning of the campaign as I was just posting pictures wearing a red suit with no explanation for the first 10 days and everyone was very confused.
Once I announced what the project was about I received a lot of good feedback and people started taking on the challenge themselves.
I started #YellowLikeALemon during Paris fashion week and thought that would be a perfect timing as FW entails wearing 10 different outfits to every single event/show/party you go to. So, I decided to change up my outfit like everyone else to every event, but only wore Sustainable Yellow outfits – meaning: borrowed, rented, secondary market or sustainable brands.
At the end of the campaign I did a Yellow party in NY where the dress code was sustainable yellow and in the invite I would give you a link to different rentals, secondary market stores and sustainable brands.
It’s true that there is a gap between being aware of a problem and taking action against it. I think the shock factor is one of the main things that drives people to take action once and for all.
I also believe we need to start sharing information differently: ‘don’t drink from plastic bottles, it pollutes’ vs ‘every time you drink from plastic bottles you are drinking plastic’. At the end of the day, communication is key, and sometimes sending the same message differently works better – this is what I try to do with my campaigns, to find a different way to share the message that has been overly communicated in the wrong way.
More about Marina
NYC
I continuously discover new cool brands but currently some of my favorite are : Mother of Pearl, Naadam & Sonia Carrasco.
I love going to art fairs/shows/galleries, talking to other creatives and artists. Surrounding myself with creatives inspires me!
Noemi
Noemi is the founder of KeiSei Magazine. While she has many interests, especially those involving anything creative, she is most passionate about transforming modern attitudes towards consumerism. Born and raised in Barcelona, she enjoys life as a Londoner now.