Her imperious "How dare you?" to world leaders at the UN cemented Swedish teen Greta Thunberg's role as her generation's leading spokeswoman on climate change, the culmination of a year of dogged relentlessness, say those who know her.

Though her words did not seem to move the leaders who spoke after her, her speech of only four and a half minutes immediately went viral, racking up tens of thousands of shares and comments on social media.

Thunberg's dominant status in the climate movement is easy to explain, say those who have met the 16-year-old high school student, who is taking a year off from her studies.

"She's done something that seems so unusual: a school strike. School is a very important thing for kids all around the world," said Jennifer Morgan, the executive director of Greenpeace International.

Thunberg started the strikes by herself in Stockholm, with just a sign, in August 2018.

The simplicity of her actions quickly caught the world's attention, and one year later, strikes are occurring in scores of countries, spurred on by social media.

"She's very clear in how she speaks, and I think her words at the summit were words that many people feel," Morgan added.

Winnie Byanyima, the executive director of Oxfam International, agreed, telling AFP that Greta "speaks so powerfully that we must listen."

Thunberg's way of speaking — brief, forceful and backed up by well-chosen scientific data points — contrasts sharply with the style of her peers, as was apparent over the weekend during a youth summit.

Some of the young activists already speak like their elders, reciting long texts lacking in nuance.

The uniqueness of Thunberg's speech — at times reserved, at others blunt — partly comes from her Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism that the teen says has made her very direct.

"The whole movement that she has helped inspire, and her speech yesterday, are playing a big part in the long-term task of changing the zeitgeist," said Bill McKibben, the founder of 350.org, an international environmental organization that has been active in the climate protests.

"Our sense of what's normal and natural and proper is shifting, and shifting faster now because of the work that Greta's doing," added the ecologist, who met Thunberg in Washington and New York.

– The voice of science –

Like young Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, who advocates for girls' education, or American student and Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg, who advocates for gun control, Thunberg has been accused of being manipulated to promote an agenda.

She responded to the accusations on her Facebook page: "There is no one 'behind' me except for myself."

"And yes, I write my own speeches. But since I know that what I say is going to reach many, many people I often ask for input," she wrote.

Her team shared with AFP the names of reputed scientists whom she has consulted: They include Johan Rockstrom, Stefan Rahmstorf, Kevin Anderson, Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, Glen Peters and others.

"I'm convinced that she writes the bulk of her speeches herself, even if she has them proofread," said Belgian climate scientist Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, who is in regular contact with both Thunberg and her father.

Over messages last week, he helped Thunberg clarify a point before she testified in the United States Congress.

Kevin Anderson of the University of Manchester echoed the same sentiments: "I am confident that Greta writes her own speeches, but quite appropriately checks the robustness of facts, scientific statements and any use of numbers with a range of specialists in those particular areas."

For McKibben, Thunberg's abilities are a no-brainer: "If you sat her and President Trump down for 10 minutes and had a basic discussion of planetary physics and chemistry, who do you think would prevail?" he asked admiringly.

Of course, Thunberg does not travel alone. Her father, former actor and producer Svante Thunberg, accompanies her, as well as a longtime family friend.

Callum Grieve, from the organization Every Breath Matters, was also with her in Washington.

Thunberg also has help managing the flood of invitations and interview requests. Climate-oriented communications firms Climate Nexus and GSCC help handle media inquiries, free of charge.

Multiple NGOs work with Thunberg to coordinate events, such as 350.org, which passes along invitations.

"She doesn't have big NGOs behind her. She is her own person," said Kim Bryan, the spokeswoman for 350.org.

Greenpeace Sweden also helped Thunberg some during the winter by providing her with food and support, said Morgan, but nothing other than that.

"She knows she can call on us, but she's very much her own personality," Morgan said.

"That's pure Greta."

Dior says it with wildflowers and Greta Thunberg plaits
Paris (AFP) Sept 24, 2019 –

Dior went back to nature in its Paris fashion week show Tuesday with Greta Thunberg plaits and a garden-inspired collection that seemed to spring straight from the earth.

With climate change biting at the heels of the fashion industry, and the London shows hit by environmental protests, designer Maria Grazia Chiuri said she wanted to create clothes that "were not just about image but action".

To do that she embraced the wild, with hemp gardening jackets and a series of stunning diaphanous dresses embroidered with wildflowers.

These were not the dainty pink roses of Dior yore but sinuous survivors, thistles and other prickly customers flowering on stoney ground.

Most of her models also wore their hair in plaits not dissimilar to those of the teenage Swedish environmental activist Thunberg.

Three of the most striking looks bore the ghostly prints of real wildflowers, gathered and applied by an artist who has mastered the natural technique.

The Italian designer also pushed the couture boundaries by using hemp and raffia in eye-catchingly unusual ways, with a layered raffia ballgown and flower-embroidered raffia waistcoats.

All was set in what Chiuri called an "inclusive garden" of 160 trees, their roots wrapped in hemp, which will all be replanted in urban gardens being designed around the French capital by environmental architects, Coloco.

Chiuri told AFP that her inspiration had come from Christian Dior's sister Catherine, a French Resistance hero who became the first female flower wholesaler in Paris — and who farmed her own roses in the Luberon in the south of France.

– Resistance hero –

The couturier's first perfume, Miss Dior, was named after her, and Chiuri felt her legacy had been a little forgotten.

Catherine ran a Resistence intelligence gathering network from Dior's Paris apartment during the German Nazi Occupation of France.

When she was arrested, she refused to betray her comrades despite being tortured by the Gestapo and sent to a concentration camp.

Chiuri said she was struck by a phrase of Christian Dior's after the war, "Fortunately there are the flowers" — which she took as a sign of hope after the dark days of World War II.

"Flowers and humans need to live together if humanity is to survive," she told AFP.

"The important issue for everybody, not just in fashion, is to be more responsible about what we do," she said.

"It is not just about image but action… the important issue for everybody, not just fashion, is to be more responsible about what we do," she added.

The rising young French designer Marine Serre had warned that the environmental "apocalypse is already here" in her earlier show which she called "Black Tide", a pop at the pollutors of the plastics and petrochemical industries.

– 'Witch-hunt atmosphere' –

She upcycled old curtains, sheets and table linen into outfits for the "survivors" of the impending calamity, though she left a note of hope by including a pregnant model, the second of the day in the spring summer shows.

Meanwhile designer Anthony Vaccarello complained about the "witch-hunt atmosphere" of our times before his typically dark, moody and sexed-up Saint Laurent show.

The Belgian-born designer has come in for heavy criticism from feminists for his "sexist and demeaning" advertising campaigns, although sales have risen by a quarter.

With Dior these days making almost as many headlines with its hats, Chiuri topped all her looks with a spray of straw hats by the British millinery guru Stephen Jones.

Jones told AFP that his "eyes lit up" when he came across a recently discovered gardening hat that Catherine Dior gave her brother, and drew many of his designs from it.