The model and commentator for Stern Marie von den Benken on her vegan diet, her future projects, and her beauty tips!
Model, author, designer, influencer – Marie von den Benken! We spoke with her about her vegan diet, Berlin Fashion Week, and her absolute no-go in fashion.
- Marie von den Benken Blog
- Marie von den Benken Colonna / Stella
- Marie von den Benken Instagram
- Marie, n’paar Genies Facebook
The passion of Marie: writing or being a model?
Marie is best known as a model, designer, and author. These days, it’s not uncommon for models to become influencers. However, she was one of the first to do so and, above all, to publicly address important topics like politics. What makes her opinion so special that it allows her to publish it in her column on Stern?
Well, I ask myself that too. Probably nothing, and Philipp Jessen, who was then the editor-in-chief of “Stern” and brought me here, simply couldn’t find anyone else who wanted to write about topics like fashion or Germany’s Next Topmodel.
Modeling or writing?
Through your work as a model and blogger, you have many more insights into the world of fashion than others. What do you like more, modeling or writing? If you had to choose, what would you absolutely have to do?
Both have their own charm and advantages. Without modeling, I would have seen much less of the world and probably wouldn’t have gained the expertise for which my opinion on the subject obviously has at least some relevance today, allowing me to write about it. But if I had to choose, which fortunately I don’t have to, I would probably choose writing. First of all, modeling, especially for women, is still a business that is largely quite limited. In other words, it has a sort of minimum shelf life, which often expires around the age of 30. On the other hand, writing gives me greater creative variety and a challenge. Now I can write for the biggest magazines, for huge television productions or screenplays for feature films. I think I will soon write a novel and hope that some publisher is crazy enough to put it on the market.
Marie is also a journalist and writes for the magazine Stern
The dangers of influencers
In one of your articles you discuss the dangers of models becoming influencers. With her 245K followers on Instagram, she is one of them. What do you do differently so that being an influencer doesn’t interfere with being a model?
I try to combine my clients. I’m not a top model like Toni Garrn or Barbara Palvin, who obviously have to be careful not to dilute their market value with the quick money of Instagram. But I’m also careful. I don’t show up in my kitchen wearing a fitness T-shirt and handing out discount vouchers. I’m for brands that satisfy me. Like Grüngold, Stella McCartney, Strenesse or La Biosthétique. Brands that share my philosophy, that make vegan or sustainable products and that still fit my lifestyle as a model. I want to bring veganism, healthy eating and sustainability out of the corner of the freaks and into the showcases of the big, glamorous world. So, well, help me with that. And when I’m booked, it’s easy to do both things in parallel. As an influencer, I love telling stories about great products or companies that make the world more beautiful, but also a little better.
No one is perfect – I think it’s important to try to do your part as best as you can within your own abilities.
Vegan politically interested
On your blog, we get to know a completely different side of you: the politically engaged vegan. Especially as part of the social media and fashion world, there are many other ethical issues. Why is veganism, among all things, so important to you? Especially with so many travels and events, this topic is bound to cause discussions and difficulties more often. How do you deal with it?
That’s absolutely right. If you travel a lot, you quickly have a carbon footprint as big as five Chinese coal power plants. I became a vegetarian and then a vegan when I got my cats. Two simple thoughts determined this decision. One was that I looked at my kittens. Real living beings that have their own character, they are loving and sensitive. But pigs are exactly like that. Or chickens. Or livestock. Why do we eat their meat while we find it disgusting to eat cats? It doesn’t make sense. You don’t kill a life just for fun. Not even if the creature isn’t perhaps as cute and appropriate as a cat.
The second thought came automatically. Why do we eat meat? Meat is a piece of a corpse that is cut from the carcass and prevented from decomposing with a highly elaborate cold chain until we prepare it deliciously with a lot of spices and sauces and then eat it. It doesn’t seem right to me. Meanwhile, in addition to this, it’s also not very healthy. But this wasn’t my initial motivation.
No one can exist in the world without harming others. I simply decided for myself to do as little harm as possible with everything I do. The transition from vegetarian to vegan was then just the consequence for me. There are still many areas in my life where I need to become more attentive and caring towards my environment. No one is perfect – I think it’s important to try to do your part with what you can.
Class Reunion Berlin Fashion Week
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The other day you were at the fashion week in Berlin. What did you like in particular, do you generally like fashion weeks or does it mean more stress for you, especially as a guest and at the same time as a journalist?
There is always something stressful about so many shows, events, appointments and parties in so few days. I would also like the Berlin Fashion Week to be worthy of its name again and last an entire week. But I am not complaining. It’s a great gathering of designers, companies, influencers, models, celebrities and industry professionals. Some designers have really touched my heart. For example, Marina Hoermanseder, who now also has vegan bags in her collection. Biosthétique was now an official beauty partner in Berlin for the first time. Then, of course, I had to write a lot about the fashion week. In addition, I met again a lot of very nice people from this circle of models/influencers, who normally don’t see each other so often because we are always around somewhere in different places. From this perspective, I really like the Fashion Week. There is a lot to do, but it’s a positive stress.
Young models, beauty teams and designers continue to impress Marie
Throughout his time as a model and writer, he must have met many inspiring people. Which people have particularly impressed him and why?
Actually, I always find it a bit ungrateful to highlight just one person. Especially because it’s usually someone who is somehow prominent, because you don’t want to bore your readers with people they don’t even know. At the same time, the real heroes of a fashion week are often in the background. They are the young models who bravely face dozens of castings in the days before the fashion week, often with the result of not getting even a single job. You have to face it and stay positive. Or the beauty teams and the designers. I’m very happy to now be a small part of the LA Biosthétique family. I saw their team up close again during a fashion week and I can really say: they are fantastic people who do amazing things. In a very small space, they create looks for up to 30 models for up to 8 shows in a row in one day. There’s just one hour for each show. It’s really breathtaking how professionally but also creatively they work there.
But if I had to choose a particular person, it would be Christiane Arp. The editor-in-chief of the German magazine “Vogue”. Once I was allowed to interview her for “Stern” – incidentally, during the Berlin fashion week. We met several times for this. She simply and spontaneously took the time. It was a great honor. And Mrs. Arp is, you can’t really say otherwise, an impressive woman with a special aura. She has a clear vision of fashion and does a lot to make young designers and Germany as a fashion location increasingly relevant to the global market. Without the Berlin Salon, which she started, the fashion week probably wouldn’t exist in Berlin anymore.
The perfect winter outfit of Marie and her tips against dry hair and skin!
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As a blogger, you always see different styles and new trends and not always you like them. Do you think you can wear everything in 2018 and combine all styles / colors / models or are there some no-gos for you?
What is your perfect winter outfit? Which element must absolutely not be missing?
A no-go for me is a style in which the person wearing it doesn’t feel comfortable. Even though many trends are taken up, the styling then appears clumsy and dressed. For me, trends are nothing more and nothing less than an inspiration to expand my style. If I like them, I follow them – if I don’t like them, I don’t follow them. But this doesn’t mean they can’t be beautiful on someone else. For me, fashion means above all freedom, variance and acceptance. However, only up to a certain point – I can think of an absolute no-go: real fur, at least at our latitudes and from animals from fur farms. There are so many and so good alternatives to fake fur today – no animal needs to have its skin removed for this nowadays.
My perfect winter outfit is cozy and at the same time subtly a bit sexy: a warm oversized sweater, over-the-knee boots, a thick and long scarf and naturally a hat!
Care Products: Suggestions
Especially you, as a vegan, use different skincare products compared to most influencers and have one or two tips that my readers might not yet know. In winter, you often deal with dry skin and redness. What are your 5 essential beauty elements without which you wouldn’t survive the winter?
- A sugar and oil-based body scrub that leaves the skin wonderfully soft and fragrant is The Ritual of Sakura Body Scrub by Rituals.
- I discovered La Biosthetique’s Elixir Vitalite at last year’s Paris Fashion Week and fell in love immediately – it’s an extra rich treatment full of nourishing oils, perfect for cold days.
- I use HASK’s SHINE® smoothing oil with keratin protein to fight dry ends and flyaway hair. It works very well and has a great scent.
It doesn’t have the same scent, but it’s great for chapped hands in winter:
- The hand cream AHAVA Deadsea Mud Dermud. I use it as a SOS treatment at night, applied often and over cotton gloves: the next morning, my hands are soft again like velvet.
Through life with feet on the ground and wit
Nei suoi articoli lei risulta particolarmente simpatico per le sue battute di parole e per il suo modo di fare con i piedi per terra e aperto. Avete mai avuto situazioni in cui questo è risultato sbagliato ed è diventato problematico?
Nel frattempo, questo sta diventando meno perché la gente ha probabilmente accettato il mio stile ad un certo punto. Naturalmente, ci sono anche molte persone a cui non piace. Basta guardare i commenti sotto le mie colonne. E ci sono state anche celebrità che hanno mostrato poca comprensione quando uno slogan li ha colpiti. Non tutti sono sicuri come Michael Michalsky o Thomas Hayo, per esempio. Anno dopo anno, ricevono da me l’intera bordata GNTM per diversi mesi, ma sanno cosa intendo. Quando li incontro da qualche parte, è sempre divertente e interessante e non si tratta mai del fatto che uno o due dei loro commenti fossero cattivi. Sono professionisti e sanno che questo fa parte della cosa e che il formato potrebbe anche beneficiarne un po’. E non si prendono così sul serio da prendere ogni scherzo sul personale. Questo, tra l’altro, è un tratto di carattere molto piacevole. Purtroppo anche uno raro.
La vita da modella non è sempre lussuosa – la peggiore esperienza di Marie come modella
There’s not even a thank you. You feel like merchandise.
As a model you experiment a lot and see a lot of the world, but not everything in a model’s life is as luxurious as one might imagine. What has been your worst experience so far?
Certainly, I’ve been through that too. Especially at the beginning of my modeling career, you experience many situations that are often seen as cliché exaggerations in stories. But it’s everyday life. Sharing an apartment in Athens, Paris or Tokyo with another 10 girls that’s just slightly bigger than your children’s room and having to attend 10 appointments every day in a completely foreign city. And with most of them it’s: Oh, yes, okay, no, the next one please. There’s not even a thank you. You feel like merchandise. However, my worst experience was certainly one of my first big jobs for a hair dye advertisement. They cut my hair short and dyed it completely red. I had been promised that my hair would be as blonde as before. But the hairdresser was not able to completely remove the red from my blonde strands – they remained pink despite several treatments. The only remaining decision was: Bleach everything and have your hair destroyed afterwards. Or dye it all brown. I still remember how bad it was for me at the time. Suddenly a short haircut and brown hair. A GNTM makeover is a joke compared to this.
When you’re young like me, it’s a horrible feeling. You feel as if all your beauty has gone and your youth is over. Today you can laugh about it. It’s just hair.
Future Goals
What are your goals and resolutions for the new year? What else can we expect from you in the future?
I have some goals, yes, but I’m superstitious about them. I can’t talk about them, otherwise they won’t come true. But I hope you’ll hear from me again in the future. I don’t like talking about things that are still in the future. Things you can’t yet see. It always seems like those D-list celebrities who, in interviews on some red carpets, try to prevent their descent into insignificance with the phrase “I’m working on some interesting projects right now, there will be something soon” and then nothing comes after, or it’s just the jungle field. But what I really hope for is to return to “Big Brother Promi” as a writer this year. We had a great team last year and we’ve also built a good relationship with the hosts over time, so this year we could really take off together. That would really excite me. Two weeks of a daily live TV show is a pure challenge. But with this team, it’s like a creative holiday at a summer camp in Cologne-Ossendorf. With that in mind: Ready Sat1? Can you hear me? I would be ready again! I’ve also just founded my own company, whose modest name should be the program: “Marie, ‘n paar Genies & die Rettung der Welt”. We want to create good content and concepts, especially for clients who produce sustainably. I hope you can expect one or two of these this year.
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