L'O EXCLUSIVE: 'Riverdale's Madelaine Petsch Discusses Sustainability with Pandora
In a new video series for legacy jewelry brand Pandora, the actress spoke to sustainability advocate Sophia Li about how to practice sustainability.
In recent years, the issue of sustainability in fashion has been one that a number of brands and designers have taken to heart. Riverdale star Madelaine Petsch has been an avid practitioner of sustainability from an early age, but in a new video series for Pandora, the actress sat down with environmental advocate Sophia Li about the importance of an eco-conscious lifestyle.
For its part, Pandora has made great strides to infuse sustainability into its core. Currently, the jewelry brand sources 100 percent of electricity in its crafting facilities from renewable energy sources, and by 2025, Pandora-owned and -operated spaces are slated to be 100 percent carbon neutral, using only recycled gold and silver.
Celebrating the series' premiere, Petsch catches up with L'OFFICIEL in an exclusive interview about her chat with Li, sustainable lifestyle, and personal lifelong connection to Pandora.
L'OFFICIEL: Can you talk to me a little bit about what drove you to get involved with this video series?
Madelaine Petsch: Absolutely. I grew up in a household where environmentalism was ingrained in me at a very young age. I was taught to recycle plastics with the numbers at the age of four, and I wasn't allowed to buy anything [plastic with] over a four at the grocery store. I was taught all about making eco-brews when I was a kid and how to compost, so finding a brand that is really putting earth-friendly practices first, investing in them, and championing sustainability is so cool and exciting for me. And I've been a fan of the brand since I was literally born—not kidding. That sounds weird, but my aunt got me a Pandora charm bracelet when I was a kid and so I've had one my whole life. So to see my two worlds meet up, it's something I'm really excited about.
LO: That's very full-circle.
MP: Yeah, it is very full-circle. And I didn't know what the mission of the campaign was going to be when we first started talking and then to hear that their whole mission is to really champion sustainable practices and to teach people these sustainable practices was really exciting to me so I'm really excited for the video series to come out. And Sophia Li is like the smartest sustainable creator ever.
LO: Is there anything that you learned from Sophia during your conversations?
MP: I liked the way that she described sustainability. I think it wasn't as much that I learned something from her because we had a whole conversation beforehand about what our practices are, but her explanation of sustainability really spoke to me. It was "a symbiotic relationship of you and the environment."
It's really cool though. I think I've always had people ask me, "what's sustainability?" when I'm trying to help my friends find more sustainable practices. I have a hard time verbalizing it because it's so ingrained within me, but because she's spent so much of her life learning about it and being an advocate for it, she's so great at those soundbites. To hear her talk about those things, it made it easier for me to learn how to verbalize them to my friends or to the world.
LO: When did you start to learn about sustainable fashion in particular?
MP: That would be within the last couple of years. I think there's this—I'm on a TV show, obviously, and I think there's a lot of consumerism in Hollywood, and it took me a while to learn the dos and don'ts, and it took me a while to learn how to implement my sustainable lifestyle into fashion. I didn't really know much about that. But within the last couple of years, I started making choices that were better for the environment and doing my research.
LO: Do you have any tips for how to start being more sustainable?
MP: One thing that's incredibly great for the environment is eating just on plant-based meal a day with no animal products can reduce your carbon footprint on the planet. I'm not telling everyone to go vegan, but I think if people were more mindful of the animal products they consume, there would be less supply and demand and we wouldn't be running the world into the ground.
Another way is to upcycle pieces that you used to love. I tell this story a lot, but there's this black dress I used to always wear. It's like a [dress] which I loved, and then I eventually got over it but didn't want to get rid of it because it was such a big piece in my life for so long. Recently, I just cut it into a tank top and now I am reusing a piece that I always loved and giving it new life. So finding ways to upcycle and change the things you love is a great way [to practice sustainability.]
Another way is holding swap meets with your friends. If your friends are over pieces in their wardrobes and you're over pieces in your wardrobe, you can all bring it, put it in a yard, and pick pieces from your friends' wardrobes. And then it feels like you've gone shopping, but you're not giving into that bad—I can't think of the word right now, but you know what I mean. You're basically upcycling and recycling and basically thrift shopping but not spending any money.
Another one that's super easy is just to go to vintage stores and thrift shops. It's really cool to see how much of a fad that is for people to be going thrift shopping and I love that because it's only championing more sustainable practices.
Those are my top ones, but there are also weird little things. Like don't buy water bottles— you can literally rinse out a pasta jar and fill it with water. That's literally what I'm drinking out of right now.
LO: Are there any vintage/thrift shops in particular that you like to shop?
MP: You trying to blow up my spots? [Laughs.] I'm kidding. I've actually been traveling a lot recently. I've been working on two different films, and so my favorite thing is to look up thrift stores in the area that I'm shooting in and find pieces from there because it's so exciting and there's a story behind it. That's what I've been doing recently, so I can't say that there's I found [a store] that I can champion. I worked in one for my film—I wish I knew what it was called—and we happened to be shooting in it so I got to shop in the vintage store, which was really cool, in [Albequrque, New Mexico.]
LO: How would you describe your style?
MP: Oh, boy. That question's so hard for me because I feel like it changes every day. I don't feel like I have one kind of style. I gravitate towards a statement and then build an outfit around that. I think I'd say a mix of adventurous with—not really eccentric—I guess adventurous chic [with] effortless. I really don't like putting effort into outfits which is weird.
LO: When it comes to jewelry, are you a "more is more" or "less is more" kind of person?
MP: Like I said, it really depends on the day. Right now, I'm just wearing my little Pandora silver hoops, but there are also days where I would be dripping in jewelry. So it depends on the mood. But, I have to say, the thing I love the most about Pandora, not only do they have pieces for everyone—they have so many different collections, some of which haven't come out yet, some of which are already out that really anyone can wear across the board—[but] they are committed to using only recycled gold and silver in their jewelry by 2025 which is the coolest thing ever to me. They're the largest jewelry brand by volume and they're committing to using only recycled gold and silver by only 2025 is so huge to me. I couldn't scream that louder from the top of my roof.
LO: What can we expect from your Riverdale character Cheryl Blossom in the remainder of this season?
MP: Obviously, I can't tell you too much, but there's definitely a huge character shift happening by the end of the season. I'd say it's the largest that's happened to her. I feel like there's always one but this one is kinda insane, and it's gonna, I think it'll surprise half the audience, and I think the others will be like, "Oh, my god. It makes so much sense."
LO: Do you have anything else that you’re working on right now that you’re excited about?
MP: I just wrapped a film. I'm really excited about a film called About Fate that I wrapped about a month ago. It's with Emma Roberts and Thomas Mann. It's a really cute romantic comedy about the fate of two people and I play, I don't want to say "crazy," because I hate when people use the word "crazy" for women, but a very driven and self-made—I don't know how to put it...
LO: Intense?
MP: She's a very intense and determined young woman, and she's the girlfriend of one of the main characters. It's a very fun and tumultuous relationship, and I really liked playing her. She's very different.
And then, I just wrapped a film called Jane where I play a character [whose] life goals don't really happen and it kinda sends me into a spiral of anxiety and panic attacks. It's a film about the pressures of social media on our youth, the effect that more absent parenting has on our youth, and anxiety and panic disorder which is something that I struggle with so I'm really, really excited for people to see that. It's a really cool thriller, psychological drama thing.
