Louise Kate Anderson: A Muse

*Image from Lush.com.au

Katelyn Taylor

My muse buys Lush products, because she agrees with their fair trade and anti-animal testing credo. She feels similarly strongly about many issues, which is why she doesn't ever buy anything from Gloria Jeans, or Max Brenner Chocolate, and she makes an effort to buy clothes that are ethically certified. When she buys presents for her friends, she tries to shop at Oxfam, to promote a world without poverty. Once she found a "made in China" label on shoes she bought at Oxfam and took them back, where Oxfam assured her it was a mistake and that they would rectify the fair trade issues with regards to that product.

She is in her early twenties, studies Media Communications and Law, and knows she wants to be a freelance journalist. She follows world politics closely, and reads a lot about history, thanks to the inspiration from her father. She took a semester off last year to build communities in Sri Lanka. She still keeps in contact with her project leader there.

She has a slightly cynical world view, and critically thinks about everything she does and buys, about how they will impact on the world. Although she likes her fashion magazines Frankie and Elle, she also subscribes to Ethical Consumer magazine, and is currently reading "Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things" by William McDonough.

She is against the fur and hunting trade, and is critical of the world's meat and dairy industry which is why she chooses to be vegan. She donates money to support the RSPCA and Greenpeace but considers PETA to be an organisation which hasn't condsidered the realities of the world.

She considers herself pro-choice with regards to many issues like abortion and homosexuality, and she finds it difficult to deal with people who are not. Born to a Catholic family, she respects religion as a way of life, but is an atheist herself.

She ponders a lot over the separation of the high income and low income classes, taxes, war, immigration, education and other political issues, and is a swinging voter, but has come up on the side of Labor in the last few years. She often wonders how consumerism and globalisation are impacting on the world's cultural diversity. She doesn't like the paradox of fighting for peace, and is saddened by the need for war in the world.

I have decided on the qualities for my muse because she would "wear" my product well. She would agree with it, it would style her opinions and be styled by her opinions. As a budding journalist, she could take my ideas to newer and greater heights.