EXCLUSIVE: Metro.Style Cover Girl Kelsey Merritt Talks About Her "Plastic-Free World" Advocacy And Her Life In NYC

Vintage top / Tibi trousers, available at Distinqt 

 

On Her Advocacy

When Kelsey started gaining a following, her dad suggested that she use her popularity to support an advocacy—something she could shed a light on and gain popular support for. “I wanted something that really touched me,” she says. “So I was waiting, I wasn’t in a rush. I was waiting until I actually felt something, [and] felt passionate about something.”

Kelsey found a cause in building a plastic-free world. She chanced on a seminar in London for luxe brand La Mer. The seminar featured an ocean conservationist who talked about the perils of plastic, as they related to our oceans and marine life. “It struck home,” Kelsey says. “I just got emotional.” Kelsey started doing research and quickly realized the extent of the damage. She then started shunning plastic and using her own water bottle.

One thing Kelsey won’t do, though, is force anyone to follow in her footsteps—she wants to teach by example, which goes so much further than using just words. “I don’t wanna preach,” she says. “If you wanna copy what I’m doing then that’s amazing, but you don’t have to.” She’s here to show us her practices in order to give us ideas on how to do the same. In ten years’ time, Kelsey says she would love to create reusable alternatives for plastic.

 

Proud Race blazer / Tibi trousers, available at Distinqt

 

[photos]

Coat by More Than Yesterday

 

 

On a typical day for her in NYC

Like a true blue tropical girl, Kelsey loves the sun. A perfect day in New York for her would have to be in the summer. “I love the heat,” she says. “So it has to be summer, and I love a workout in the morning—I love brunch so I would meet up with my friends and have brunch, coffee. I’m such a brunch person. I would line up an hour, two hours for a really good French place. And then maybe watch Broadway. I do love Broadway so much.”

(Fun fact: Kelsey’s a huge "Hamilton" fan and knows every single word to the Lin-Manuel Miranda musical).

“After a Broadway show, maybe a walk. I love walking in the city. After brunch, I would walk forty-five minutes to an hour back home. Then chill for a while. I love tanning with my friends in the park. So we do that, we do a lot of tanning in the summer.”

After this, Kelsey would conclude the day with dinner—either at home or outside. She’s not much for clubs and bars or other nightlife activities. “I don’t like going out—I don’t really drink—so I [would] just stay at home and read a book or watch TV. I’m watching the last season of Orange is the New Black—it’s my guilty pleasure.”

 

Ben Taverniti Unravel Project blazer, available at Akimbo / Ports 1961 trousers (worn as a jumpsuit), available at Distinqt

 

Photography by BJ Pascual

Video producer: Joan Ko

Videography by Spotlight Creatives

Makeup by Mickey See

Hairstyling by Mark Rosales

Styling by Eldzs Mejia of Slash Studio, assisted by Carl Alberto

Sittings Editors: Kat Cruz, Kate Paras and Grace Libero-Cruz

Shoot assistant: Iya Ronatay

Special thanks to Pia Campos, Gerard Gotladera and Monica Evangelista of W, Hannah Tejuco and Tokyo Tokyo