Interview: Summer Chiamaka Anyanwu on Winning the Maiden Edition of Miss Green Fashion

When I met Miss Summer Chiamaka Anyanwu, the recently crowned Miss Green Fashion, on a warm afternoon over a virtual meeting, the first thing that stood out was her calm presence. She speaks gently, but with a conviction that makes you pay rapt attention. Emerging as the winner of a uniquely purposeful pageant on October 31, 2025, she represents a new kind of queen. She stands at the intersection of creativity, leadership, and sustainability, with a vision for Africa’s fashion future.

While the allure and celebration of beauty are key elements that make most pageants special, Miss Green Fashion distinguishes itself. It elevates the platform by incorporating the environment into the spotlight, successfully demonstrating that sustainability can thrive within popular culture, especially in the context of beauty competitions.

Created by sustainability advocate Doyinmola Paul-Oyewusi, Miss Green Fashion gives young women the tools, mentorship, and platform to turn ideas into real change. For Miss Summer, the journey to the crown is an intentional one. During our conversation, she opened up about where the reach for advocacy began, the quiet leadership that shaped her, and the vision behind her project as Miss Green Fashion, Sustain_it Textiles Lagos. She also shares her hopes for Africa’s fashion future and the legacy she intends to build as queen. And there’s a clear sense that she feels ready for the work ahead.

Weeks before the finale, Miss Summer, with the other finalists, received mentorship from industry experts who guided them through sustainable fashion, leadership, and impact creation.

The pageant thereby champions a future where style and sustainability thrive side by side, through hands-on training, project development, and challenges that push contestants to rethink how clothing is made and used. They also participate in structured masterclasses and leadership training that prepare them to build real projects, and not just stage performances.

Miss Summer Chiamaka Anyanwu| Miss Green Fashion.

Before the crown and the spotlight, Miss Summer had already been deeply committed to growth, but with an approach that seemed far too relaxed. “I went with the flow and didn’t always push myself as much as I could,” she admitted. Winning Miss Green Fashion, however, shifted her perspective. The bootcamp and mentorship leading up to the crown taught her the urgency of action. “The biggest shift is moving from being comfortable to being purposeful. It’s not just about making progress anymore, it’s about taking action and seeing results,” she explained.

Unsurprisingly, Summer has always been an advocate, considering advocacy and leadership as one and the same. “Advocacy isn’t about having the loudest voice. It’s about using your voice, yes, but it’s also about action, about setting examples, leading in a way that people can actually see, and then they are also inspired to change,” she explained. Her relationship with advocacy and leadership has always been intertwined. She sees both as acts of service, as ways to influence change and inspire others.

Long before she understood the word “sustainability,” conscious living was already part of her daily life. She recalled how, as a child, she simply could not litter, always paying attention to her surroundings and respecting the spaces she occupied. “I don’t normalise waste, and I really don’t like seeing things go to waste. It’s a mindset that I’ve built over a very long time. And I see that as sustainability, because it’s not just about me. It’s about making sure that my siblings and those around me can also benefit from it,” she explained.

This really resonated with me. I could see the parallels with my own household, where it’s a running joke with my younger sisters that all my old clothes are practically theirs now. Waste simply doesn’t exist in our home, and listening to her made me realise how much early habits shape the way we engage with the world.

Those early habits also influenced how she approaches fashion. Summer’s style is thoughtful and expressive, reflecting her personality without following trends or trying to fit into a box. She noticed early on how her clothing choices could convey mood and identity, and that awareness naturally extended to the environment.

This sense of responsibility carries into every aspect of her life. For Summer, modesty, style, and sustainability are closely connected. How she dresses, the pieces she chooses, and the care she takes in her decisions all reflect awareness, responsibility, and intention, showing that fashion can be both expressive and conscientious.

“To me, sustainability means caring for yourself, caring for others, and caring for future generations and the planet in general. In my daily life, I practice this in intentional ways: reusing items, being mindful of purchases, minimising waste, and considering how my decisions affect the people around me. It’s the little choices that really make a difference,” she added.

The care and thoughtfulness she applies to her style and daily habits carry over into her approach to leadership and advocacy, where awareness and responsibility guide every action. She has been involved in community-focused projects for years, and every stage helped shape the approach she brings to her work today.

Earlier in her National Youth Service year in Makurdi, she put these lessons into action, leading a small team in a sustainable impact project. “In the LGA where I was posted,” she started, “We introduced students to simple sustainability habits. We collected plastic and exchanged it for a stipend."

The experience was hands-on, showing her exactly what it means to lead through service. Students would collect plastic into a designated jumbo-sized receptacle that was provided through a donation from the FBRA, and then a partnered recycling organisation in Makurdi (Green-Ecocycle), came for pick-up.

Her time in the AIIDEV Africa SDG12 Mentorship Programme deepened this understanding further, with guidance from Mrs Ibukun Faluyi, a sustainability practitioner who helped her turn knowledge into meaningful action.

As Miss Green Fashion Africa, she embodies the platform, which gives young women space to explore sustainable fashion as a creative, culturally relevant, and responsible expression. Miss Summer intends to be busy throughout her tenure as Miss Green Fashion, with an upcoming project, Sustain_it Textiles Lagos, already in the works.

As she revealed during our interview, this project is a circular initiative that builds on an earlier undertaking from her service year, Sustain_it Textiles Markurdi, aimed at turning textile waste into opportunity, which grew out of both principles and personal experiences.

She shared the inspiration behind the project, having been influenced by her mother, who constantly recycled old clothes. “My mum used to declutter our clothes and either give them away or exchange them for buckets, bowls, or laundry baskets. It taught me that there’s value in what we often call ‘waste,’” she explains. Observing the amount of textile waste in Lagos, she wanted to act.

The project will follow a four-step circular model. She is currently in the beginning phase, focused on raising awareness and building a team of volunteers. In the coming months, the project will move into collection drives, training sessions, a swap event, and finally, a partnership with a recycling organisation. She hopes it will not only reduce waste but also create jobs for artisans and raise awareness of how fashion can be both creative and sustainable.

While informal exchanges of old clothes, like those her mother did, can be useful, we rarely know what happens to the items once they leave our hands. Sustain_it Textiles Lagos addresses that gap by making every step of the process transparent. From collection to training, swapping, and recycling, the project ensures that the impact is real and responsibly managed.

Her inspirations reflect the people who shaped her path. These include Oyewusi, the vision behind Miss Green Fashion, and Mrs Titilayo Oshodi, the Special Adviser on Climate Change and Circular Economy to the Lagos State Government, who inspires Miss Summer through her leadership in policy.

There’s also Mrs Ibukun Faluyi, a sustainability practitioner who mentored her during an African SDG Mentorship Program and guided her through the Sustain_it Makurdi project. With each encounter with these women, she is reminded that women can lead change powerfully and gracefully.

Her vision extends beyond a single initiative. She is also relaunching her accessories brand, Nations Accessories, giving men and women of all ages access to ethically made accessories that help them stand out sustainably. She would also introduce The Pitch Room, a community where visionaries can practice impact speaking by sharing their ideas in guided sessions and receiving feedback from mentors. “I believe our voices are part of our impact, too. By helping people express their ideas confidently, we multiply the change we can create,” she explained.

Her projects are especially significant in Africa, where many in the fashion industry are still learning what sustainability really means and why it matters. By raising awareness, providing education, and creating opportunities to engage with sustainable practices, Summer’s initiatives help close that gap. As she explained, “The biggest issue is awareness. Many people still don’t understand how urgent sustainability is, or how creative it can be.”

She also notes the need for collaboration across industries, where one sector’s waste could become another’s raw material. “If we encourage more innovation like that, and make sustainable fashion easier to access, especially online through e-commerce and thrift markets, we’ll see a real transformation. It all starts with having a sustainability mindset.”

Looking ahead, she hopes her legacy will be defined by both impact and inspiration. “I’d love to be remembered as a queen and change-maker who pursued her dreams against all odds, kept her faith alive, and inspired others to do the same. To be someone who didn’t just wear a crown but used it as a platform to create lasting change. Because for me, true beauty is purpose in action,” she says.